The Ghana Education Service (GES) has attributed the delay in payment of feeding grants to some Senior High Schools especially in Northern Ghana to the change in government.
The headmasters of some schools in the north have threatened to close down the schools and send students home due to the non-payment of feeding grants by government for students.
The Ghana Education Service said it has paid part of the grant owed the assisted schools but cannot immediately say when the remaining arrears will be paid.
Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations officer of GES, Rev Jonathan Bettey urged the headmasters not to close down the schools.
“The first term payment has been made, the movement of GES is calling on school authorities to resume for academic work. We are aware government owes the schools but as I talk to you, negotiations are still ongoing to make sure that the remaining monies are paid but as to when the money will be paid, I cannot release that to the public now,” he said.
“A new government has just taken over administration and the ministry of education is yet to welcome the new Minister and a lot of things are to be put in place before the normalcy of a number of things so we are of the view that with one term being paid to the school authorities, school can resume so they use this one for the time being whiles negotiations, the rest of the money will be paid,” he added.
Second cycle institutions in the three regions of the north, have been temporarily shut down due to the perennial problem of unpaid feeding grants for three consecutive terms. The students were scheduled to resume their course work on January 5, 2017, following the Christmas break. But school heads have asked them to stay home indefinitely over the non-payment of the feeding grants.
Some of the affected students in a Citi News interview decried the situation and called for a permanent solution.
They accused government of being insensitive to the plight of students of second cycle institutions in the three regions of the north.
The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), earlier served notice of postponing reopening if government failed to defray the accumulated debt.
According to the leadership of CHASS, they can no longer feed for the students’ on credit.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
