Schools have resumed for the next term from August 14, 2023, to November 30, 2023, for second-year students in Senior High Schools (SHSs), but some parents fear that their wards might not be able to return despite the government’s Free SHS policy.
This is because some schools in the Greater Accra Region are demanding specific items as part of a list for returning boarding students before they are admitted.
The uncompromising demands every semester have irked some parents who told The Ghana Report that the items were too expensive and pleaded for affordable alternatives, but the schools are not ready to accept.
The parents also wondered how nearly 2,000 students are asked to bring along brushes, long brooms, mop buckets, padlocks, antiseptic, reams of paper, and cutlasses, among others, every semester.
Parents reeling in economic hardships have particularly raised concerns about the schools’ insistence on Dettol, an expensive disinfectant brand when cheaper substitutes exist.
A 500ml Dettol antiseptic product currently sells at GH¢90 cedis at the shops, while other brands are sold three times less for GH¢34 cedis.
The position of the schools has resulted in heated arguments and misunderstandings, with some parents questioning how thousands of brooms and scrubbing brushes would be finished every term.
“If we were told to pay, it would have been better because this Free SHS policy is never free. At the end of the day, we still have to pay so much to have the children in school. How do you specify a specific brand to bring? At home, we use something different,” a 60-year-old pensioner lamented, pointing to the list in despair.
A 40-year-old trader at Makola, who pleaded anonymity for fear of victimisation, remarked in the Twi language:
“I don’t understand these demands by the schools every year. There are so many disinfectants that are cheaper and can do an equally good job of maintaining good hygiene by the children. The authorities must step in to check what the schools are doing. Things are hard, and it is tough to get money these days”.
Meanwhile, some of the schools declined to comment at press time.
However, by the close of Monday, August 15, information gathered indicated that the schools had taken a soft stance.
The teachers accepted the alternatives and substitutes presented by the parents, and the students were accepted back to school.
