The Ministry of Education has announced that the Achimota preparatory school is going to be under the General Management of the Ghana Education Service, GES.
This comes after deliberations between both parties following the long-standing dispute over the ownership of the land on which the Achimota Preparatory School is situated.
In a statement signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Benjamin Kofi Gyasi, it noted that the school will be under GES and the status of the staff will be decided later on.
“At the invitation of the Minister for Education, the two parties met and after deliberations resolved as follows; Achimota Preparatory School is going to be part of Achimota Basic School under the general management of the GES”.
“The status of the staff and the specific role of the current managers of the school is to be discussed at a subsequent meeting to be facilitated by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education,” the statement noted.
“The Minister assures parents/guardians, students, and the public that everything possible would be done to ensure that the quality of education which Achimota Preparatory School is noted for, is not compromised under the new management and arrangement,” the statement noted
Background
The Ghana Education Service had explained that the land and building being occupied by the Achimota Preparatory School formed part of the Achimota School land per the Achimota School Ordinance No. 7 & 1948.
The preparatory school was established by some expatriates during the colonial era and for their children, staff of Achimota School and the University College of the Gold Coast.
Over time, the expatriates left the management of the school in the hands of locals who, from time to time, formed management committees to run the school as a private institution. APS has been operating that model to date.
The GES explained that “sometime in the 1960s, Achimota School granted a lease to APS to allow it to operate from the premises, which expired in 1970.”
In January 2020, amid the contentions, the Parent-Teacher Association of the Achimota Preparatory School said it would resist attempts by the GES to take over the school.
It has also accused the GES of acting in bad faith in the matter despite the court ruling that allowed the takeover.
