Africa Education Watch calls for GES to make approved SHS/TVET prospectus public

According to Africa Education Watch, some Heads of Senior High/Technical Schools are distributing unapproved prospectuses to 2023 Free SHS students, and as a result, the organization has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to release the approved SHS/TVET prospectus publicly.

EduWatch claims that the GES’s failure to make the approved prospectus available to the public is enabling many Senior High Schools to extort parents. The Education Watch urged the GES to publish the approved prospectus to alleviate the burden on parents struggling to finance the unapproved prospectus.

The education think tank believes that the GES’s public warning to Senior High School heads after a public outcry, when it is clear that almost no school respected the approved prospectus, suggests a subtle conspiracy.

Recently, the GES cautioned Heads of government second-cycle schools against issuing unapproved prospectuses to first-year students and selling some of the items on the prospectus. The GES also claimed that some Heads of public Senior High/Technical Schools are selling free items supplied by the government to the 2023 Free Senior High School students. The GES management condemned this practice and stated that it is prohibited and must cease immediately.

The GES has advised Heads of public second-cycle schools to adhere to the approved harmonized prospectus for students and warned that any Head who demands items other than the approved ones will be severely sanctioned.

The GES also recommended that parents/guardians should purchase the approved items on the prospectus from the open market rather than the schools to avoid any conflict of interest on the part of the school authorities.