The Headmaster of Kpassa Senior High Technical School (KPASTECH), Rockson Kwame Tawiah, has been removed from office for unauthorised collection of money from students.
Mr. Tawiah was removed after a committee set up by the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) found him culpable for the collection of GH¢150 from each of the 2,900 students of the school located in the Nkwanta-North District in the Oti Region.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GES, Daniel Fenyi, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said the Director-General of the Service had directed that Mr. Tawiah report to the Oti Regional Directorate of the GES for reassignment.
“Reassignment does not mean that he will be a headmaster of another school. The understanding I have is that there are other sanctions that will be meted out to him,” Mr. Fenyi added.
Background
On October 27, this year, the Daily Graphic reported that tension was building up at KPASTECH over unauthorised fines imposed on students by the headmaster.
The report cited Mr. Tawiah as being behind the imposition of fines, without the approval of the Board of Governors or the consent of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).
The fine was allegedly to compensate for the loss of some items in the school.
The Daily Graphic gathered that the students were being made to pay the fine, which was to yield GH¢435,000 cumulatively, for the alleged loss of 27 ceiling fans, some lamp holders, and bulbs.
Additionally, the headmaster also forced all 860 students who took this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to pay the GH¢150 fine, threatening to block their results if they failed to do so.
As the students paid, they were issued receipts bearing the stamp of the accountant of KPASTEC, confirming the payments made by the students.
The Daily Graphic also gathered that all newly admitted students to the school were made to buy a ream of A4 bond paper and one mini-bucket of emulsion paint, although those items were not part of the prospectus approved by the GES for fresh students.
Again, for the admission letters of fresh students to be recognised and processed, each of them was required to pay GH¢50, with no receipts issued to back these payments.
Parents described the development as worrying, especially since the government had introduced the Free Senior High School policy to ease their financial burden.
Following that report, Mr. Tawiah, as well as the Nkwanta-North District and Oti Regional directors of education, were invited to the GES headquarters in Accra for questioning.
Subsequently, Mr. Tawiah and the two education directors reported to the GES headquarters for interrogation on Tuesday, October 28.
Follow-up
When the Daily Graphic followed up for updates on the outcome of the meeting, Mr. Fenyi said that although the full report was not readily available, he could confirm that Mr. Tawiah had been removed from office.
“The final report of the investigative committee on the issue will be made available soon, but I spoke with the Director-General just this afternoon, and he said the headmaster has been removed from office,” he said.
Mr. Fenyi added that the headmaster had been directed to refund all money that had been collected from parents as a matter of urgency.
Meanwhile, the Daily Graphic can confirm that following the publication of the story and directive by the GES, the school authorities have started refunding the money to students who have already paid.