Is My Dad's Decision Right ?

Dear Auntie,

I completed junior high school this year. After completion, my mum sent me to my dad because she said she was not in the position to support me through senior high school (SHS) Now my dad wants to take me to an SHS in his hometown.

I have not heard about the school before and I am being forced to make a decision.

Again, I do not bear his name so he wants me to change it even though I wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination(BECE) with that name.

Epiphanes, Accra.

Dear Epiphanes,

It is a bit too late for your father to change your school since schools are selected ahead of the BECE.

The results are already out and I am sure by now you know whether you have been given admission to your choice of school or not through the computerised selection process.

If you really like the school you’ve been offered then humbly go to your father and plead with him to allow you to attend the school you’ve been offered.

On the other hand if your father still wants to change your school then I am afraid there is little you can do about it; he is the one paying your fees and if he says that is where he wants to take you then that is where you have to go.

The fact is that you can excel in any school provided you take your studies seriously, so don’t give up yet.

As regards your name, he needs to send you to a commissioner of oaths to swear an affidavit and have your name changed and published in the dailies.

After that, he can formally write to the school authorities with the documents attached to have it changed.