MINISTRY of Education (MoE) has cautioned parents whose wards have qualified for the 2017 Senior High School (SHS) academic programme not to pay school fees to heads of institutions.

The caution, according to the deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has become necessary because government was taking care of all such expenses.

Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday to update the public on the process of enrolling students onto the Free SHS, the deputy minister said students would not pay any fees.

“As a matter of fact, Parents’ Teacher Association-levied fees like utilities, development levy, and even teacher motivation were going to be paid by the government, as a result, we’ve made it abundantly clear to headmasters that money should not be the reason why a student should not go to school, therefore no parent should receive a bill,” he told the media.

According to Dr. Osei Adutwum, “even if PTA meets and in consultation with the Ghana Education Service decides to do something for the school and wants parents to contribute, it will not be mandatory.”

He assured parents and candidates who have qualified and have still not received their placements not to panic since they will definitely get placements in schools where vacancies exist.

In this regard, he appealed to parents to remain calm as his outfit takes steps to ensure that all BECE candidates duly qualified are placed in senior high schools.

According to him, all the 150,000 students out of a total of 460,941 who qualified will be placed before the academic term begins.

“We at the Ministry of Education will do everything possible to ensure that no student who has been given an opportunity to select a school is left behind.”

The Computerised School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) last week released the 2017 placement list with a total of 36,849 candidates failing to secure placements because they scored a Grade 9 in either English or Mathematics.

Out of the total number of 460,941 registered candidates, 424,092 candidates qualified for placement.