The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has criticized the interdiction of the 11 eleven headteachers in Senior High Schools (SHSs) headmasters across the country.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) last week took decisive action by interdicting eleven headteachers in SHSs across the Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Bono Regions over the unauthorized sale of some items to the first-year students as part of their admission process.
This was contained in separate statements by Regional GES offices which announced the initiation of comprehensive investigations into the conduct of these headteachers.
According to CHASS, the seven headteachers in the Ashanti region in particular as of Monday morning had not received the letters asking them to step aside, as they only saw the letters circulating on social media.
Zakaria Suleman Yeboah, the Ashanti regional chairman of CHASS stated that the said headmasters were also not engaged on the matter before the release of the letters.
“None of them has received any letter to that effect, they heard the news on social media and they are seriously traumatised. As we speak, they are not themselves and I believe that it wasn’t the right thing to be done,” Mr Suleman Yeboah said.
Meanwhile, CHASS has expressed worry over the allegations levelled against the 11 SHSs headteachers across the country.
The Conference, however, stressed that it will not condone acts of charging illegal fees by its members.
The national CHASS president, Rev. Father Stephen Owusu Sekyere noted that their engagements with the headmasters have revealed that some of the allegations are true while according to the headmasters, some are untrue.
He further noted that the recent situation has brought about a considerable level of unrest, bitterness, fear and panic in various schools.
He is thus calling on the Ghana Education Service to tamper justice with mercy in cautioning the headmasters who would be found culpable after investigations.
Rev. Father Owusu Sekyere also called on the relevant stakeholders to conduct expeditious investigations into the matter to bring finality to the issue as early as possible.
CHASS has thus strongly cautioned headmasters across the country to strictly stick to the harmonized prospectus and avoid charging fees that have not been authorized.
The national president of CHASS Rev. Father Stephen Owusu Sekyere said this will prevent similar issues from happening.