A retired educationist, Robert Ajene, has expressed concern over the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) directive to school heads to stop the collection of unauthorized Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) levies.
Speaking on the Big Mike Breakfast Show on Monday November 3, Ajene warned that the directive could undermine the development efforts of many schools that have historically relied on PTA support.
According to him, the PTA has played a pivotal role in advancing educational infrastructure and quality across several senior high schools in Ghana. He cautioned that attempts to restrict their activities could harm the progress made in the education sector.
“We should not leave the education sector to government alone. If this is what we’ve agreed on, then what role will parents play?” Ajene asked.
“I speak as someone who has operational experience in managing education, and I think it is not wise to cancel PTA dues. Government alone cannot take care of our education.”
Drawing from his past experiences, the retired educationist highlighted how active PTAs in the past transformed schools through their own initiatives.
“Parents have built classrooms, purchased vehicles, teaching and learning materials, and even electric generators to ensure schools ran without interruption. In some cases, they paid allowances to teachers at the end of the month, and those schools recorded excellent academic results.” He said.
The PTAs, in some places, almost took over the functions of the GES, and that made a huge difference. So why should we now discourage them from functioning?”
Ajene further argued that instead of curbing PTA activities, the GES should rather streamline its bureaucratic approval systems and grant more autonomy to schools to enable faster development.
“The approval processes are bureaucratic, cumbersome, and unnecessary. You should trust the people you’ve appointed to work. Why should we wait for lengthy approvals just to build a school wall?” He questioned.
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