Committee recommends transfer of headmistress

Kumasi, Feb 07, GNA - A five-member committee set up by the Bantama sub-metro education office to investigate alleged misappropriation of funds levelled against Miss Betty Asare, the Headmistress of the Bantama Presbyterian Junior Secondary School in Kumasi, has recommended her transfer.

The committee has also recommended the transfer of Mr Francis Afful, the Assistant Headteacher.

The committee was appointed in November last year following accusations of financial malfeasance against Miss Asare over funds realized from the management of the school's toilet. The committee was tasked to investigate all allegations leveled against the Headmistress and others and find out the roles played by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and the School Management Committee (SMC) in the administration of the school.

It was also to find out the level of involvement of the local church in the management of the school and come out with recommendations to resolve the impasse between the Headmistress and other stakeholders. Chaired by Mr Emmanuel Premoh of the Presbyterian Education Unit, the committee said it found fragments of truth in some of the allegations leveled against the Headmistress.

It said there was no transparency and proper accountability in the proceeds accruing from the toilet, the renting of the classrooms to an accounting school and for church worshipping.

The committee found that the PTA and SMC interfered with the administration of the school, citing the request by the two organs for part of the proceeds from the toilets as well as holding PTA and SMC executive meetings without informing the Headmistress.

It also discovered that there was antagonism between the Headmistress and her assistant, which sometimes led to confrontations. The committee asked that the accounts of the PTA and SMC should be properly rendered to the relevant stakeholders and the executive members of the two bodies who had over stayed their office should be removed.

It also asked the church to return to the school all proceeds from the toilet, the rent from the accounting school and the church using the school's premises for worship.

The committee asked that money from the toilet must be shared between the JSS and primary schools after deductions of all expenditure with the JSS taking two-thirds and the primary taking one-third while the others go to only the JSS.