By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has strongly condemned the leadership of the Ghana Education Service (GES) over how some head teachers of Senior High Schools (SHS) have been asked to step aside for charging unapproved fees from fresh students through social media.
According to CHASS, the seven head teachers in the Ashanti region in particular as of Monday morning, 11, December 2023 had not received the letters asking them to step aside, as they only saw the letters circulating on social media.
Speaking to the media, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of CHASS, Mr. Zakaria Suleman Yeboah, noted that the said headmasters were also not engaged on the matter before the release of the letters.
“None of them has received any letter to that effect, they heard the news on social media and they are seriously traumatised. As we speak, they are not themselves and I believe that it wasn’t the right thing to be done,” Mr Suleman Yeboah stated emphatically.
Meanwhile, CHASS has expressed worry over the allegations leveled against the 11 Senior High School headmasters across the country.
The Conference, however, stressed that it will not condone acts of charging illegal fees by its members.
The National President of CHASS, Rev. Father Stephen Owusu Sekyere speaking in an interview with the press at the Ashanti Regional Education Office after accompanying the seven interdicted headmasters to a meeting, noted that their engagements with the headmasters have revealed that some of the allegations are true while according to the headmasters, some are untrue.
He further noted that the recent situation has brought about a considerable level of unrest, bitterness, fear, and panic in various schools.
The National President of CHASS is thus calling on the GES to tamper justice with mercy in cautioning the headmasters who would be found culpable after investigations.
Rev. Father Owusu Sekyere also called on the relevant stakeholders to conduct expeditious investigations into the matter to bring finality to the issue as early as possible.
CHASS is, therefore, cautioning headmasters across the country to strictly stick to the harmonized prospectus and avoid charging fees that have not been authorized.
The national president of CHASS believes the unfortunate incidences will prevent similar issues from happening in the future.
