The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed heads of schools who have collected unauthorised fees from students and their parents or guardians during the admission process to refund the monies.

The Service has also warned heads of schools and teachers who demand or collect illegal fees, including admission fees, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) dues, and other unauthorised levies, to desist from the practice or face disciplinary action.

Director-General of the GES, Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, issued the warning at a press conference in Accra on September 29, following reports that some school heads were allegedly demanding and collecting various forms of money from parents and guardians in connection with the admission of students.

The GES Director-General described the development as worrying and stressed that such practices were unacceptable under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.

He explained that the collection of unauthorised charges from parents in connection with admissions was contrary to the principles on which the Free SHS policy was established.

“The collection of unauthorised fees and charges from parents in connection with admission is inconsistent with the principles underpinning the free senior high school policy,” he stated.

Free SHS and financial barriers

According to Prof. Davis, the Free SHS policy was introduced to remove financial barriers that could prevent children from accessing senior secondary education.

“The free senior high school policy was introduced to remove financial barriers to senior secondary education and to ensure that no child is denied access to education at the senior high school level because of inability of parents or guardian to pay certain fees,” he said.

He said the policy was intended to ensure that financial difficulties did not prevent eligible children from accessing senior high school education.

Consequently, Prof. Davis warned that any action by school authorities that undermined this objective would not be tolerated by the GES.

“Any conduct by a school head that undermines this objective will not be tolerated,” he said.

Prof. Davis further made it clear that school heads who had already collected unauthorised monies would be required to refund the payments.

“I therefore wish to state clearly that any head of school who has collected monies from students or their parents without proper authorisation must refund those monies,” he said.

He added that school heads would also be held responsible if they allowed unauthorised payments to be collected by third parties within school premises.

“Any head of schools that allows such monies to be collected by a third party within the school premises will also be punished severely within the rules and regulations of the service,” Prof. Davis warned.

The GES Director-General said individuals found culpable would be dealt with in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the Ghana Education Service.

The warning therefore extends beyond school heads who personally collect unauthorised fees to those who permit others to undertake such collections within their schools.

Prof. Davis said the GES would not allow the actions of a few individuals to undermine the broader objectives and gains of the Free SHS policy.

“We will not allow the actions of a few individuals to undermine a policy that has expanded access to secondary education for thousands of Ghanaian children,” he said.

The GES's position is that the imposition of unauthorised charges during the admission process could place an additional financial burden on parents and guardians and undermine the objective of removing financial barriers to secondary education.

The Service has therefore called on school authorities to adhere to the rules governing admissions and the implementation of the Free SHS policy.

Prof. Davis urged parents and guardians who are asked to pay unauthorised fees to report such demands to the GES.

“I urge parents and guardians who encounter such demand to report to GES at the district, metro, municipal, regional, or headquarters,” he said.