The Ghana Education Service (GES) has suspended the implementation of the Parent-Teacher-Association (PTA) Guidelines, including the collection of levies.

“The management of the Ghana Education Service directs that the implementation of the Parent-Teacher Association Guidelines recently communicated to schools should be put on hold with immediate effect.

“Accordingly, all heads of senior high and senior high technical schools and PTAs are not to collect any levy from parents or guardians as outlined in the said guidelines until further notice.

The suspension takes immediate effect and must be strictly complied with by all institutions,” it said and charged heads to treat the directive “as urgent and mandatory”.

It said regional and district directors of education were to ensure that the directive was duly communicated to heads of all schools under their jurisdiction, and also ensure that no breaches occurred pending further instructions from management.

This was contained in a statement signed by the acting Deputy Director-General in charge of Quality and Access, Dr Munawaru Issahaque. 

Guidelines

Among other things, the guidelines indicated that only parents or guardians with children or wards enrolled in a particular school could serve as PTA members and executives.

They recommended that executives may serve two terms of two years each at the basic level and one two-year term at the secondary level.

The New National PTA Guidelines further recommended that PTA accounts should be audited annually by the Auditor-General, with Annual Reports submitted to the school management committee (SMC), district education officer (DEO) and regional education officer (REO).

Regarding checks and balances, the guidelines said school heads must approve before PTA executives sign cheques to access the PTA account.

Ban

Also, teachers are banned from collecting PTA levies or being signatories to PTA accounts. Their role should be to advise and update the PTA on academic and school management issues, including school discipline and policy.  

A child’s access to and participation in school, they said, could not be affected by a parent’s levy commitment.

On Wednesday, June 11, 2025, President Mahama called for the full reinstatement of PTAs in schools nationwide, saying that sidelining parents from school governance had undermined accountability and community involvement.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) on July 16, 2025, directed all public pre-tertiary schools to reinstate PTAs following a presidential directive.

As fresh senior high school (SHS) students report to school for the commencement of the 2025-2026 academic year, some schools were demanding that parents paid PTA levies as part of the registration process.

Reports indicated that some schools turned parents away because of PTA dues. 

Caution

Following the reports, the GES issued a statement indicating that no second-cycle school had been authorised to collect parent-teacher association (PTA) or development levy.

It directed that “no head teacher or GES staff member of any educational institution should be involved in the collection of PTA levies”.

It confirmed that management had received reports that some second-cycle institutions were demanding and collecting various levies under the guise of PTA dues.

“We wish to state that no school has been authorised to collect any PTA or development levy without prior approval. In basic schools, such approval must be granted by the District Education Oversight Committee (DEOC), through the District Director of Education, and in second-cycle schools by the Regional Director of Education,” the statement signed by the Head of Public Relations of the GES, Daniel Fenyi, said.

Even when approved, the statement said, such payments remained strictly voluntary, and that no student should be denied any school service, right or benefit for non-payment.

It said regional and district directors of education were directed to monitor compliance and report any breach for immediate disciplinary action.