Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament, Dr Clement Apaak has quizzed the Minister for Education on what he expects headmasters to do after giving admission to students with an aggregate of 30 to 50.

According to Dr Apaak, the cause of the non-performance of these schools is as a result of inadequate funding and policy inconsistencies.

The MP for Builsa south’s comment is on the back of the minister’s statement challenging the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) and Principals of Technical and Vocational Education and Training TVET Institutions to improve their educational outcomes or stand the risk of having their institutions closed down.

Dr Clement Apaak, in an interview with GhanaWeb, said threatening headmasters to close down schools is not the way to go, adding that the Education Minister has limitations as to what he can do.

“…Rather than identifying the causal factors and addressing them, the minister chooses to threaten headmasters with a decision to close down schools which is not the way to go. He has misdiagnosed the challenges.

“In fact, the reason why these schools are not doing well is as a result of inadequate funding and policy inconsistencies. They are not fully and well-funded. You give them students with an aggregate of 30 to 50 are the headmasters supposed to perform magic? Certainly not. The minister also forgets that there are limitations to what he can do, we have structures in place, but the minister does not have the capacity to close down a school,” he said.

He added that “Pre-tertiary institutions are governed by the Ghana Education Service act. The Ghana Education Service has a council, so if and when decisions are to be made about the future of a school in the area of pre-tertiary a report must first be filed by a regional director of education to the director-general who will then table it before the council.

According to Dr Clement Apaak, it is the council that has the power to take decisions on the schools.

YNA/DA