Govt pays subsidy for students

The Government has released the third term subsidy for students of all government assisted secondary and technical schools in the country.

Each of the 378,832 students had his or her total fees subsidised by ¢131,000 bringing the total cost of the fees that the Government absorbs each term to ¢40,993,219,540.

There are 477 government assisted senior secondary schools and 23 technical institutions in the country.

The Government subsidies each term cover stationery, first aid, building maintenance, sports fee, culture fee, sanitation, postage, report/cumulative records, textbook user fee, practical fee, technical/vocational/agriculture fees, furniture maintenance and utility bills.

According to a letter signed by a deputy minister for finance, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, on June 28, the amount had been approved for immediate disbursement to enable the minister for education and sports to pay subsidies for secondary schools for the third term of the 2004/2005 academic year.

At an emergency meeting of the executives of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) in Accra on June 28, 2005, members expressed concern about the continued delay in the release of the absorbed fees, eight weeks into the third term.

The financial controller of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Charles Otoo, told the paper that cheques for all the assisted secondary and technical institutions were ready.

He said already all schools in the three northern regions had had their cheques while schools in the other regions would receive theirs by the close of today. The president of CHASS, Mr Bolina Saaka, who is also the headmaster of Tamale Secondary School confirmed to the paper in a telephone interview that cheques for schools in the three northern regions were handed over to him last Thursday in Accra.