President John Mahama, has advised Heads of Senior High Schools (SHS), to refrain from imposing arbitrary fees on parents and guardians.
“The policy is to make SHS progressively free,” he said, cautioning that those who failed to fall in line would be brought to order.
The President’s advice was contained in his speech read by Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, Minister of Education at the 50th anniversary celebration of Tsito Senior High School.
It was under the theme: “Fifty Years of Secondary Education In A Disciplined Environment-The Fulcrum for Community and National Development.”
The fiftieth anniversary edition of the Awuscan, the School’s mouth piece, indicated that the then Awudome Secondary School was founded in September 1963 by the Tsito Native Teachers Association (TNTA), to provide opportunities for numerous Middle School Leavers in the community desirous of furthering their education.
President Mahama urged all stakeholders to be dedicated and purposeful in whatever they do during the period that students are in school, to ensure that “we produce well-tested and well-groomed young people who will take over the reins of this country.”
He, therefore, urged the students to take their academic work seriously, while working at improving other talents they possess.
President Mahama observed that though the internet poses a great opportunity for learning and sharing good practices, it cannot replace teachers and parents who must provide guidance towards reaping the full benefits of the transformation the technology offers.
Responding to requests by the Headmaster, Mr R.D. Kroti and the School Prefect, Professor Opoku-Agyeman said the issues would be taken up to justify the demand for high academic standards.
Some of the challenges facing the school included lack of a befitting Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre, access roads, spacious dining and assembly halls, science laboratories, and the completion of the girls’ dormitory block funded by the GETFUND.
“The truth is that there has not been any properly designed plan for accommodation for boys. All the structures we now use are only make-shift apartments,” Mr Kroti lamented.
Majority of the teaching staff commute daily to the school for lack of accommodation.
In his remarks Togbe Gobo Dake the twelfth, Chief of Tsito, who presided, said the major headache of Tsito and second cycle schools was lack of water.
He said water is drawn from Tsito to Ho and “our friends at Peki,” but we do not have water, and appealed to President Mahama to intervene to rectify the situation.
Two of the surviving Founders of the school were honoured.
Source: GNA / Ghana
