Kumasi TI AMASS Charging 12 Million Cedis From New Students

The government decision to control the exorbitant fees charged by the various heads of the Senior High Schools (SHS), especially during the entrance of new students is yielding no positive results as parents continue to be charged unapproved fees to enable their wards enter school. Thus, even though the government, before the commencement of the new academic year published fees which could be charged by the government assisted SHS and technical schools, especially with regards to new entrants, some schools are still going for the unapproved. Per the publication by the Ministry of Education, the Fresh students in boarding houses would pay GH668.50 each, while their day counterparts would be paying GH355.50. The amount include GH175 for school uniform and clothing for both boarding and day students, approved teaching and learning support fees and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) levies. In order to make it easy for parents, the Ministry of Education added the approved fees to the admission forms to be printed online. But, investigations conducted by the 'Ghana Palaver' newspaper revealed that some of the schools are charging beyond the approved fees thereby putting undue pressure on parents. For instance, the Ahmadiya Senior High School in Kumasi, popularly known as IT AMASS is among the schools charging the unapproved fees. A receipt available to this paper reveals that the school is charging GH700 instead of the approved GH668.50 and as if that is not enough, it charges another GH500 for what it described as other items. According to the school authorities, the supposed �other items� include school uniforms, an item which the Ministry of Education has indicated that it is part of the approved fees. Information available to this paper revealed that, many parents are therefore being discouraged to send their wards to the school, as they have planned their budget based on the government approval fees. �It is very difficult for us, as after paying the GH700, one is also being compelled to cough additional GH500 to pay for other items,� Alhaji Haddi, a parent, told this reporter. According to him, government should as a matter of urgency intervene in the issue to enable parents pay the approved fees for their wards. �I will urge the Deputy Minister of the Education in charge of Pre-Tertiary to visit the IT Amass school in Kumasi and others in the region who are doing same to stop them from such extortion which is preventing many other parents from sending their wards to school,� the parent added. All attempts made by this paper to contact the headmaster of the school proved futile, as he was reported to have travelled to Mecca.