THE Ghana Education Service Council (GESC) has approved a 20-per cent increase in fees for private schools in the country for the 2002/2003 academic year.

According to a letter to the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) and signed by the acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr John Budu-Smith, for Grade ‘A’ schools, pupils in the nursery/kindergarten, primary, junior secondary school (JSS) and second cycle levels, will be required to pay ?252,000, ?280,000, ?313,200 and ?370,000 respectively.

Those in the Grade ‘B’ schools will pay as follows; nursery/kindergarten, ?216,000, primary, ?244,800, JSS, ?277 and second cycle, ?370,000.

Pupils attending Grade ‘C’ schools will be required to pay ?180,000 at the nursery/kindergarten level, ?208,800 at the primary level, ?241,200 at the JSS level and ?298,800 at the second cycle school level.

For Grade ‘D’ schools, the fees will be ?144,000 for nursery/kindergarten, ?172,800 for primary, ?204,000 for JSS, and ?252,000 for second cycle schools.

The council has, however, directed that sundry charges such as electricity, water, among others for last academic year be maintained at ?30,000 for nursery/kindergarten, ?40,000 for the primary, ?60,000 for the JSS and ?75,000 at the second cycle level. The fees were approved in July this year, at the instance of GNAPS.

Ironically, there are certain private schools in the country whose proprietors refer to themselves as the Great Seven Schools (G-7 schools) which are charging more than four times what has been approved by the GES Council.

Such schools as Faith Montessori, Alpha Beta Education Centres, Morning Star, Jack and Jill and North Ridge Lyceum which are not members of the GNAPS have taken advantage of the absence of a regulatory framework within which private schools operate to charge exorbitant fees. Investigations have revealed that some private schools in the country are charging a minimum of ?1.2 million per child per term.

It was also established that some charge in dollars and parents wishing to pay in cedis are allowed to do so provided they pay according to the prevailing rate of the dollar on the market at the time of payment.

The First Vice-President of GNAPS, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, said in an interview that all members of the association are required to charge the approved fees.

He described the situation where some private schools are allowed to charge far above what members of the association are allowed to collect as most unfortunate. He said some private schools have taken advantage of the right to freedom of association to stay away from GNAPS so that they can do their own thing.

Dr Nkrumah said it is against this background that the association has called for a regulatory framework that will compel all private schools to charge fees approved by the council.

He asked members to ignore what others are doing and comply fully with the GES Council directive, adding that “it is up to the council to ensure that all private schools, whether they are members of GNAPS or not to charge the same fees.”

Dr Nkrumah warned that any member who wilfully violates the directive does so at a great risk. In another development the GNAPS has called on the government to expedite action on the Education Regulation Bill which, when approved, will among other things, prevent schools from charging fees without the prior approval of the GES Council.

In a resolution passed at the end of its 21st annual conference, it also tasked government to restore the supply of text books to all private schools “unconditionally and without delay”.

The association again requested the Ministry of Education and the GES to add the relevant books whenever new syllabi are introduced.

The association further called on the ministry to consult GNAPS whenever there is going to be any change in educational policies and programmes and indicated that, pupils and students attending private schools should also be made to enjoy bursaries and scholarships since they are also entitled to a share of the national cake.