Following the interdiction of the Headmaster of Fijai Senior High School in Sekondi,
The Parents and Teachers Association (PTA)ofthe School says it should be blamed for the event that led to the interdiction of the headmaster, Mr. Kenneth Agbomadze by the Ghana Education Service (GES).
In a press release dated April 18, 2023 the management of Ghana Education Service (GES), under the signature of Cassandra Twum Boafo, Head of Public Relations Unit, announced the interdiction of the Fijai Headmaster, over alleged collection of illegal fees in the school.
The statement reads: “Management of Ghana Education Service (GES) has interdicted Mr. Kenneth Agbomadze, Headmaster of Fijai Senior High School with immediate effect, pending further investigation into alleged illegal fees in the school.
“Mr. Agbomadze is to handover the administration of the school to the Western Regional Director of Education. The investigative committee has been given two weeks to submit its report to management.”
But the Vice Chairman of the PTA, Evangelist Anthony Eshun, who exonerated the headmaster from the alleged collection of illegal school fees in the school, believes the PTA must be blamed for what has happened.
Speaking in a telephone interview with The Chronicle, Evangelist Anthony Eshun said on February 11, this year, the PTA had its general meeting. The Headmaster and his management team were invited to the meeting and did present their report to the meeting.
After presenting his report, according to the Vice Chairman, the Headmaster asked to leave the meeting because government’s new rules did not allow Headmasters to be present during PTA meetings.
Unfortunately, his request was turned down by members who were at the meeting. The development forced the headmaster to reluctantly sit in the meeting, which was to discuss monthly dues and motivation fees for teachers and special support levy.
According to the Vice Chairman, the meeting agreed to adjust the fees for monthly dues and the special support levy. Consequently, the monthly dues were adjusted from GHS10 per semester to GHS20. That of the special support levy also moved up from GHC75.00 to GHC150.00. This brought total dues payable to each parent to GHS190 per year.
Mr Eshun further told The Chronicle that the meeting also agreed to levy each parent GHS100, which would be paid to the teachers of the school to motivate them.
In all these discussions, Vice Chairman Eshun told this reporter that the headmaster did not utter a word. Eshun suspects that the headmaster has been interdicted because he sat in the meeting where the above decisions were taken.
“If he loses his job, it is the PTA who is to be blamed because he (Headmaster) insisted several times to leave the meeting because government directives did not allow him to sit in the meeting. But the more he insisted to leave, the more the PTA also insisted he sits in,” he said.
The PTA has decided to render an apology to the headmaster, in the likely event that he is exonerated from any wrongdoing, after investigation into the issue.
For now, Evangelist Anthony Eshun told this reporter that the PTA has been invited by the committee investigating the matter and has appeared before it.
“Just as I have told you, it is the same thing we told the Regional Education Director, that we the PTA stand to be blamed for the interdiction of the Headmaster. We consequently extended our apology to the Headmaster through the Regional Director.
“The February 11, 2023 PTA meeting was not a secret one, but since we insisted the Headmaster sat in the meeting, the conclusion has been that he influenced the decisions taken at the meeting to decide on the alleged unapproved fees”, Vice Chair Eshun told this reporter.
Meanwhile, the Regional Chairman of PTA, Isaac Cobbinah, has taken a swipe at the interdiction of the Fijai Headmaster.
Speaking on a Takoradi based radio station, Chairman Cobbinah, insisted that the charges levelled against the Fijai Headmaster for which he has been interdicted was not known in any Senior High school in the region. He, therefore, does not understand why he has been interdicted.
