Students of Tanoso Community nurses bracing-up for a demonstration

Sunyani, June 25, GNA - The students of the Tanoso Community Health and Nurses Training School (CHNTS) near Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region have threatened to embark on a demonstration against the school authorities for charging unapproved fees.

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency said that even though the Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC) had its approved fees, final year students of the school had been made to pay more than the approved registration fee for the Nurses and Midwives Licence Examination of the Council to be held in July, this year.

According to them the acting Principal, Madam Elizabeth Wiafe and some members of management of the school had forced the final year students to pay GH¢ 600.00 instead of GH¢ 450.00 for the examination and GH¢ 445.00 instead of GH¢ 250.00 affiliation fee of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) per student paid by their colleagues in similar institutions in the country.

They said when the difference was brought to the notice of the Principal, she explained that because they were only 66 students they had to pay more than those in other institutions.

According to the students, their complaints to the section of the Ministry of Health in-charge of Training Institutions yielded no result.

They called on the Ministry of Health and the NMC to intervene on their behalf as soon as possible since the increases had placed a burden on them and their parents and guardians.

When contacted, Madam Wiafe denied that the school was charging unapproved fees.

She said what the students were charged was the fee approved by the NMC, adding that there had been no increase of fees by the Ministry of Health.

Madam Wiafe said it was the KNUST that fixed the affiliation fee.

She pointed out that some of the students owed fees, which the school authorities rather appealed to parents and guardians to pay the accumulated fees to enable the school to meet its administration expenses.

GNA