SHS heads should satisfy the assignment

 SHS heads should satisfy the assignment

We have needed to get back to the issue of the Senior Secondary Schools (SHSs) today, the second time in the most recent 72 hours, considering a few issues that have become obvious inside the period We carried a story on Monday from the 68th-anniversary celebration of the Winneba SHS in which the president of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), speaking as the guest for the occasion, lamented the non-release of scholarships, subsidies, and food supplies to the SHSs, making it difficult for the schools to run smoothly.

As it ended up, per brochures shipped off to the schools by the Ghana Instruction Administration (GES), the heads were supposed to submit returns on the assets delivered to them by the GES under the execution of the free SHS strategy to empower the help to make further installments (if any) for the running of their schools. It is lamentable to note, in any case, that out of the 674 public senior secondary schools in the country which were supposed to document returns, just 56 (under 10 percent), have presented their profits, over about two months into the initial term of the scholarly year.

We recall that, as part of the introduction of the Free Senior High School policy, the government made an initial payment equal to 20% of the funds required to run the schools based on the number of students the principals indicated they would admit in order to assist them in acquiring perishable food items and covering other operating expenses.

Upon the heads' submission of returns to the GES detailing the number of students they had enrolled, the remaining funds were to be distributed to the schools. As we said as we would see it piece last Monday, the public authority and its organizations must do whatever it may take to give what the schools need to flawlessly run. However, according to the Daily Graphic, once the heads of the 674 public schools were required to submit returns before receiving any additional payments, they assumed a significant portion of the responsibility for ensuring that the schools had sufficient funds to operate.

That a larger part of the heads has neglected to present their profits would be viewed as an endeavor to present obstacles in the smooth running of the Free SHS program. We urge the majority of second-cycle school administrators who have not yet submitted their returns to do so immediately. They would only be justified in accusing the GES and the Ministry of Education of any delays in the reimbursement of funds if they had fulfilled their contractual obligations. There have been a number of issues with the operation of our schools in the past, and every effort needs to be made to resolve these issues so that we can focus on improving our students' academic performance.