 |
| Bowiri Community day SHS |
The situation according to the headmaster of the school, Raymond Letsah-Glover has generated anxiety among parents who want their wards to benefit from the free SHS policy by the Akufo-Addo led government.
In an exclusive interview with Adomonline.com’s Gershon Mortey, Mr. Letsah-Glover said he applied for 400 first-year students but no student showed up when the programme started.
“We haven’t received any new students. We applied for 400 students. Those in the school presently are second-year students. The classrooms are empty. We are not part of the Free SHS Programme…” he bemoaned.
The distraught Bowiri SHS headmaster noted that several complaints lodged at the free SHS Secretariat yielded no results.
“I had several communications with the Free SHS Coordinator and Secretariat. They were positive but I don’t know what happened. They claimed they can’t see the school in the system. It might be due to some technical problem since a different name is in the system…” he maintained.
The E-shaped three-story edifice was commissioned on October 16, 2016, by former President John Mahama under the name Bowiri Community Day SHS.
The traditional authorities later redesignated it to Kwamekrom Community Senior High School (SHS) to reflect the name of the community in which it is sited.
However, the headmaster reportedly failed to communicated same to the Secretariat of the Free SHS programme as well as the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) when he declared vacancies available for first-year students.
However, the Volta Regional Education Director, K.K Boadi said the situation may have arisen due to the change in the name of the school which makes it impossible for it to be recognized by the computerized system.
But he said the issue has been forwarded to the GES Headquarters for it to be addressed.
“We heard of it and we inquired and they said it was the change of name. They wanted it to bear the traditional name. It became Bowiri Community SHS. I think the computerized system didn’t bear the school number. We asked the head to follow up…
“So far that is what I know about it. We have forwarded our challenges to headquarters and I think they are working on them. They should have utilized the administrative checks before changing the name of the school,“ Mr. Boadi explained.
Meanwhile, the community has requested for the transfer of the headmaster, for allegedly sabotaging the policy.
An elder of the Kwamekrom community, Kwame Atukpawu, also the Omankrado, described as worrying, how students from the town have been transferred to other schools far away from the town overburdening parents.
“We informed him to go and check the name of the school but he refused. He never registered for the E-blocks which were being built by the government. He has disgraced us.The children from the town have been placed in outside schools…” he stated.
The Omankrado, therefore, wants the incompetent headmaster to go.
“He wants to sabotage the free SHS. If not what should I say? We have told him to go and check several times but he refused…” he added.
