Mix reactions by parents on reporting date for first year students of SHS

There have been mixed reactions among parents and guardians of first-year students at Senior High School (SHS) regarding the directive by the Ministry of Education ( MoE) for reporting of first year SHS students to school.

While some parents support the directive, others insist that the reporting date was impromptu, making it difficult for them to adequately provide needed items on their prospectus for their children and wards to go to school.

A visit to the Bolgatanga market by the Ghana News Agency revealed that most parents and guardians were still busy purchasing items for their children and wards and were uncertain when they would report to school.

Madam Alice Ayinga, a parent, told the GNA that the insistence by the Ministry of Education for the students to report immediately would put a lot of financial burden on her family, given the circumstances.

She stated that, ‘When your child writes BECE, it is your hope that he or she gets school to go, but in the current circumstances, I am unprepared fin
ancially to provide her with the necessary stuff she needs for school, and that is because I taught while placement is done; it would take like two weeks so that we can prepare.

‘With this directive by the Ministry of Education, there is going to be a lot of financial burden on me and my family because what it means is that we are going to spend the little we are surviving on to meet requirements of my daughter and I think this is unfair,’ she added.

Mr Samson Adongo, a parent however, was of the view that parents had enough time to prepare, given that they were aware that irrespective of the grade their children may get, there was the possibility of them going to school.

He stated that, ‘Yes, I understand the plight of parents, but the fact is that even if you give some parents one whole year to prepare, they would still need more time, and that is simply because we are not time conscious as people, so the moment the system begins to work, then we have a problem.

‘In fact, all of us knew that with an agg
regate of 40 or more, our wards would still get placement, and instead of us preparing, we wanted the reality to dawn on us, then we start to complain,’ he stressed.

Madam Lariba Issah, a parent, asserted that the directive by the MoE for the students to report immediately was nothing but a deliberate attempt to burden parents.

According to her, ‘it does not make sense for the students to report this same month and return two weeks later in the same month for Christmas; what would they learn in this short period that it has become so necessary?’ So, it is a deliberate attempt to burden us’.

Master Zutere Ismael, a first-year student yet to report to Navrongo Senior High School, told the Ghana News Agency that he was eager to report to school given that her parents were able to get his stuff on time, adding that he had obtained his admission online and was only waiting for his prospectus to report.

Source: Ghana News Agency