Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has expressed doubt that government would allow parents to pay Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) dues.

He said this would amount to scoring a political own goal, “the Akufo-Addo-led government would not want to compromise on its political objectives by permitting parents to run the affairs of schools from their pockets under the Free SHS programme.

"We’ve had this discussion year in year out and it doesn’t look as if government is interested in allowing PTAs to take dues. Government’s inhibitions are clearly understood," he emphasized.

In 2019, the Ghana Education Service, suspended the payment of PTA levies under the Free SHS policy with the reason that it is a financial burden on parents. The ban has since been in force.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, Tuesday June 8, Mr Asare explained that the government presumes that some schools might take advantage of it and prevent some students from attending classes if their parents fail to pay the dues.

However, Mr Asare believes that this presumption is farfetched, "it should be very simple to regulate the collection of school fees in about 630 public schools across the country and ensure that they don’t collect anything unapproved, and the collection is strictly voluntary."

Mr Asare stressed that because of the political undercurrents of this issue, “it’s not likely government will budge."