The caution of the Ghana Education Service directing all schools to stop collecting examination fees and a publication by Ghana Education News [Some Public Schools in V/R Charge Illegal Termly Exam and School Fees has been greeted with dissatisfaction among some members of the chalk fraternity.
The possibility that all public schools charge exam fees, or many of them do, makes it more difficult for the GES to apply the whip and bring those involved to book.
Information being revealed by educators shows that the collection of examination fees is a common practice in public schools even after the Internal Assessment Score (IAS) was introduced. This policy requires teachers to use IAS which includes Homework, Class Tests, Group Work, and Project Work”.
“All the schools in Ghana are charging fees, including my school for exam fees. Why can’t people be bold to tell the government and the Ghana Education Service to stop the damage being caused to our schools? Parents now pay for everything in the school even workshops, sports, cultural festivals, quizzes, reading festival, etc. Are all paid by parents? I blame the heads of basic schools for all these. They have been made to bow to everything to the extent that the only words they can now say are ”yes Sir” what is happening? Should wait till everything fail?”
The cross-section of educators have argued that it is not right for learners to attend school for an entire term without an end-of-term assessment. They further argued that the policy by the GES for schools and teachers to use Home mocks, class tests and class works to prepare end-of-term reports is not the best.
Is the policy the best for teaching and learning at the basic school level in public schools? If this policy is very important to the government and the GES, why is the Ghana Education Service silent on the writing of Examinations in private schools? Such a national policy must be adhered to by both schools in the private and public sectors.
Some teachers have argued that parents want the best for their wards and should be allowed to pay exam fees so their wards can be accessed.
“They want the best for their children. Leave them alone, ***** government.” One of the commentators said. Others believe that the policy by the government aims at spoiling public schools so they (public figures) can enrol their wards in private schools. “They should spoil the public schools and send their wards to private schools”
“At the end of the day they will shift the blame on public school teachers that they are not doing well, meanwhile their counterparts in the private school will be writing about 30 exams before BECE. I think it’s now a curse to be a teacher in Ghana. Kuukuwa Essiam Bossman posted.
Teachers and heads of public basic schools across the country seem reluctant to adhere to the directive by the GES.
“WE WILL WRITE THE EXAMS… You can term the collection of printing fees anyhow; christen it with any name you like, we see non-writing of exams as illegality too. We can’t continue to go on with this *****.”
[wp-rss-aggregator]