Dr Clement Apaak, the ranking member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, says Ghanaian parents have lost faith in the basic school system and are looking for alternatives.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South warned the Akufo-Addo government against delaying the payment of capitation grants to various basic schools.
“As I speak to you, the government owes capitation grants for the previous budget year a whopping amount of 45 million Ghana cedis. For the current year, the request was for 60 million, and the government brought only 11 million for us to approve. So ideally, the government should be making available capitation grants in excess of 106 million cedis, and that is not happening.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the legislator said that the delay in releasing the funds was gradually bringing the public elementary school system to its knees.
He added that the last time the grant was paid was in 2019/2020, meaning that they haven’t received anything for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
“Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led government has failed to disburse capitation grants to ensure the smooth running of the public basic schools in the country. The situation is so dire that the conference of heads of public basic schools has publicly lamented it, and as a member of parliament on the NDC side of the Education Committee, my caucus decided that we use this medium to call on Mr. President to instruct the finance minister to release capitation grants,” he said.
“It is clear that contrary to what we are being made to believe—that education under Akufo-Addo is unsurpassed is a blatant lie. You cannot convince us that you cannot provide the needed resources for the foundation that is basic.
“You owe capitation grants for two years, the headmasters are having to borrow, and because of that many parents are becoming disillusioned in basic school, so you can’t tell me that this is a president that has prioritised education in Ghana.”
In a related the Builsa South MP, backed comments by the former President John Mahama on the state of the Senior High School (SHS) in the country.
According to him, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) monitoring report supports the unpleasant nature of food supplied to schools.
This comes on the back of the former President John Mahama expressing some concerns on the challenges that have bedeviled the SHS in the country.
Commenting on the development, the Builsa South lawmaker who doubles as the deputy ranking member on the Education Committee in Parliament questioned why unregistered tomato paste will be supplied to schools.
“JM is right. Our SHS students are fed insect infested beans, soup made from rotten groundnuts, banku made from weevil infested corn.
“Our wards are fed expired food items such as tomato paste, milk and mackrell. Will you feed such to your pet dog? Expect a detailed article soon,” Mr. Apaak stated.
He continued: “Auditor-General reports, the PIAC 2018 FSHS monitoring report support the case that our SHS students in some cases are fed unwholesome and expired food supplied by unscrupulous buffer stock food suppliers. Why will tomato paste not registered with the FDA be supplied to schools?”
