Interdicted SHS heads had no justification to collect unauthorized fees – Carbonu

The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, has criticised the eleven heads of Senior High Schools (SHSs) who have been interdicted for collecting unauthorised fees.

The headmistress of the Ghana Senior High School in Koforidua was interdicted on December 7 for allegedly selling unauthorized items to Form One students reporting to the school.

Seven other headteachers in senior high schools across the Ashanti Region were also interdicted for similar offences.

During an interview on Face to Face, on Citi TV, Mr Carbonu, acknowledged the challenges associated with the free SHS but added that the actions of the headteachers are unjustified.

He wondered why the heads ignored the GES’ directives to charge unapproved fees and engage in the sale of unauthorized items, blaming the interdicted heads for causing their downfalls.

“I fault all heads of schools who collected any amount of money from parents. My position is this, you are working for somebody and the person is giving you directives that do not collect money in any shape or form. If you want to keep your position, you have to abide by that directive.

“If there are challenges, you write to your superiors, complaining about the challenges that you have, and ask your superiors to give you directives as to the way forward. That is what every public servant is supposed to do.”

He emphasized, “So when you are on your own, without resort to authority, go to collect monies, no matter how justified they are, you have violated the rules. That is not to say that the challenges and the reasons for which the monies were collected are not in existence and are not real, they are real. The government itself has reneged on its responsibility as a provider to provide resources. However, that also does not justify you taking the law into your hands.”

He described the government’s educational policy, free SHS, as a populist policy, which was dead on arrival.

“When the government introduced the free SHS, we knew that it was going to be a very populist policy. To the extent that we know the government was not going to be able to keep up. And true to it, the government is now concentrating more on food, what about the other needs?” he asked.

He reiterated his calls for a review of the free SHS policy.

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