The Forum of Assistant Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (FAHASS) has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to pay outstanding transfer grants and responsibility allowances due to its members.

The association says most assistant heads who were transferred in 2021 have still not received their transfer grants, more than four years after their reposting.

Speaking at the maiden National Conference and Workshop of FAHASS in Kumasi, the National President, Dzandza Isaac Mandy, described the situation as unfair and demoralising.

According to him, GES regulations stipulate that any staff member who is appointed or transferred to another station is entitled to a transfer grant to cushion relocation costs.

"In the Service, when you are appointed or transferred to another area, you are entitled to a transfer grant. Since 2021, most of my colleagues here have not enjoyed that allowance," said Mr Mandy, who is also the Assistant Headmaster of Zamse Senior High Technical School.

Responsibility allowance concerns

Mr Mandy also raised concerns over the non-payment of responsibility allowances to some assistant heads.

He explained that the responsibility allowance is a supplementary financial package for staff performing additional leadership and administrative roles in the Service.

Roles that qualify for the allowance, as outlined by the GES, include heads of basic schools, headmasters and headmistresses of senior high schools, assistant headmasters and mistresses, chaplains and Imams, form masters and mistresses, house masters and mistresses, and heads of department.

"When you are appointed as an assistant head, it comes with an allowance. It will surprise you to know that most of my colleagues here are not enjoying that allowance as assistant heads. Some are still receiving allowances as form masters, house masters or HODs," he lamented.

He therefore appealed to the Director-General of the GES to intervene and ensure that all outstanding entitlements are paid.

Beyond allowances, Mr Mandy said assistant heads continue to grapple with an unclear career progression path, inadequate office accommodation and logistics, limited capacity-building opportunities and other welfare-related challenges.

He noted that many assistant heads act in their positions for months without formal recognition or support, a situation that affects effective school administration.

The four-day conference and workshop focused on the theme, "Resetting Second-Cycle Education for Quality Learning Outcomes: The Role of Assistant Heads."

The event drew assistant heads from senior high schools, senior high technical schools and STEM schools nationwide.

Touching on the theme, the Secretary of FAHASS, Isaac Wiredu, said while Ghana's second-cycle education has made remarkable gains in access through the Free SHS policy, access without quality remains incomplete.

He explained that resetting education means re-examining and re-energizing the system to focus on genuine learning, restoring discipline and integrity, embracing STEM, TVET and digital literacy, and strengthening accountability and teacher professionalism.

Mr. Wiredu described assistant heads as the engine room of SHS and quality-control officers of schools, whose roles span academic supervision, administration, discipline, and student welfare.

He said FAHASS was founded on the belief that assistant heads are the critical link between heads of schools, staff, students, parents and the wider community, and had for years worked behind the scenes to sustain the smooth running of schools.

He said the Forum emerged as a collective response to the need for professional recognition, collaboration and capacity building, and pledged the association's commitment to partner with the Ministry of Education and the GES in the resetting agenda.

The programme was graced by the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, Dr. William Kwame Amankrah Appiah, along with other stakeholders in the education sector and traditional leaders.

Addressing participants, Dr. Amankrah Appiah expressed gratitude to assistant heads for their dedicated service to Ghana, acknowledging the sacrifices they often make in the discharge of their duties, sometimes at the expense of their personal and family wellbeing.

He urged them to remain committed to nurturing morally upright and academically excellent learners.

Dr. Amankrah Appiah further encouraged them to foster harmonious working relations with their heads, pointing out that they could one day occupy those leadership roles and would not appreciate insubordination from their own assistants.