In Spite of directives from the Ghana Education Service (GES) to all heads of second circle institutions across the country not to charge first year students any fees under the ‘Free SHS’ policy, St James Seminary Senior High School at Abesim, near Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo Region, has asked all students (including the freshers) to pay a compulsory “seminary fee” of GH¢297.
Parents who were not happy with the situation but had to pay and issued with receipts walked to a radio station – Angel Fm – to ask for clarification. Efforts by the radio station to speak to authorities of the school for explanation failed. The regional Public Relations Officer of the GES, Samuel Opoku-Agyei, confirmed on air that the directorate had received information on the issue.
He said the GES directorate had invited the authorities of the school for discussion over the fee, saying preliminary explanation from the school indicated that the GH¢297 is meant for white robe for all students to be worn on Sundays. The robe is different from other church items listed among 36 in the prospectus for students to acquire before coming to school.
Strangely, the outgoing BA Regional Director of Education, Osei Asibey, told DAILY GUIDE that he was not aware of the charge but stressed it is against GES’ directives under the ‘Free SHS’ policy.
Snippets of information gathered from the school indicated that the rector, Father Ebo, was not aware of the charge because he had travelled outside the country before the decision was taken.
Meanwhile, Mr Osei Asibey has confirmed to this paper that the headmaster of Ekumfi Ameyaw SHS, Julian Okon; his assistant, Jacob Barzon and Georgina Frimpong at Awrowa in the Techiman municipality, have been interdicted and asked to proceed to Accra to explain to the authorities why further disciplinary actions should not be taken against them for charging unapproved fees.
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