GES suspends implementation of PTA guidelines in schools

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has suspended the implementation of the Parent-Teacher-Association (PTA) guidelines, including the collection of levies in second-cycle schools across the country.

The suspension of the new PTA guidelines was announced in in a statement signed by the acting Deputy Director-General in charge of Quality and Access, Dr Munawaru Issahaque.

“The management of the Ghana Education Service directs that the implementation of the Parent-Teacher Association Guidelines recently communicated to schools should be put on hold with immediate effect.

Accordingly, all heads of senior high and Senior High Technical Schools and PTAs are not to collect any levy from parents or guardians as outlined in the said guidelines until further notice,” GES has said.

In a statement sighted by GhanaEducation.org, the GES charging heads of schools to treat the directive as urgent and mandatory said, “The suspension takes immediate effect and must be strictly complied with by all institutions.”

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed regional and district directors of education to ensure that the directive is duly communicated to heads of all second-cycle schools under their jurisdiction, and to ensure that no breaches occur pending further instructions from management.

Also, teachers are banned from collecting PTA levies or being signatories to PTA accounts. Their role should be to advise and update the PTA on academic and school management issues, including school discipline and policy.

A child’s access to and participation in school, they said, could not be affected by a parent’s levy commitment.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has issued a statement indicating that no second-cycle school had been authorised to collect parent-teacher association (PTA) or development levy.

It directed that “no head teacher or GES staff member of any educational institution should be involved in the collection of PTA levies”.

“We wish to state that no school has been authorised to collect any PTA or development levy without prior approval. In basic schools, such approval must be granted by the District Education Oversight Committee (DEOC), through the District Director of Education, and in second-cycle schools by the Regional Director of Education,” a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations of the GES, Daniel Fenyi, said.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) PTA guidelines stated that executives may serve two terms of two years each at the basic level and one two-year term at the secondary level.

The new National PTA Guidelines further recommended that PTA accounts should be audited annually by the Auditor-General, with Annual Reports submitted to the school management committee (SMC), district education officer (DEO) and regional education officer (REO).

Regarding checks and balances, the guidelines said headteachers of secondary schools must approve before Parent-Teacher-Association (PTA) executives sign cheques to access the PTA account.