The Headmistress of the Suhum Islamic Girls Senior High School , Sherifa Abubakari, has expressed disappointment with authorities at the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) for supposedly converting her school from a boarding facility to a day school.
Over 800 first year students posted to the school were all given the option to be day students leaving scores of parents from Yendi, Walewale, Damango and other areas outside the region stranded.
[contextly_sidebar id=”hSadCqeQuea2wV1tlpNvSZfArA0MPuNE”]Madam Abubakari in an interview with Citi News indicated that she had boarding facilities to accommodate over 1,500 fresh students under the new double track system.
“I need more girls. They should come to my aid. I have enough accommodation. I do not know what I will use my dormitories for. Last year we were given 518 and you know these people, they go there and they are able to change their schools for them so finally it was 516 that came, and I had enough boarding facilities for them so my boarders were more than my day students.
“This time around…the students are coming from Yendi, Bolga, Bawku and they have made them day students. They should have notified me that my school will be turned into a day school. I am pleading that those coming from far away be made boarders.”
Double track system begins
The implementation of the double track system in some 400 Senior High Schools in Ghana commenced on Tuesday, September 11, 2018.
The new system, which was created due to an increase in enrollment is expected to create space to accommodate more students, reduce class size, increase contact hours and increase the number of holidays.
The government adopted the double-track system to cater for increased enrollment under its flagship free Senior High School programme, due to a deficit in infrastructure.
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa in a Citi News interview said they are ready to ensure the success of the double track system.
“We are expecting first-year students who are on the green track and first years who are on the single track to be joining. School re-opens for green track and single track on September 11, 2018,” he added.
Parents alter SHS admission letters to get their wards into boarding
The programme has been fraught with challenges as some parents in the Brong Ahafo Region have been accused of altering the admission letters of their wards into Senior High Schools in a move to get them into boarding.
In an interview with Citi News, the Assistant Headmaster In-Charge of Academics at the Sunyani Senior High, Micheal Osei Banso, said some parents deliberately altered the admission letters but were found out and nearly arrested.
According to him, one of such parents was nearly arrested by the police for forging the accommodation status of their ward.
He said the parents realized the school authorities were serious about the threat to arrest them, they absconded with their wards.
“Some parents whose wards have been given day status want to get boarding status and when they come and plead with us, we tell them that the system is done from Accra, and there is next to nothing we can do about it. They go back and edit the placement form and change the day status to boarding status then we find out from our records that the boarding status has been changed. Yesterday [Monday], we nearly invited the police to come and arrest one of the parents, when he realized that we were serious he ran away.”
But the process of admisison has been generally smooth in most parts of the country.
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By: Marian Ansah/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
