Eduwatch Africa has condemned the practice of some school heads demanding that parents pay examination or printing fees before their children are allowed to sit for exams, describing it as illegal and unacceptable.
The organization emphasized that the government is responsible for financing such educational programs under the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) policy.
This follows reports that some school heads have been threatening to bar students from exams if their parents fail to comply with these unauthorized fees.
While acknowledging the value of parental contributions to school development and learning, Eduwatch stressed that these contributions should be voluntary, not mandatory.
The organization reiterated that such practices contradict the policies and laws governing the implementation of fCUBE in Ghana.
The Pre-Tertiary Education Act of 2020 (Act 1049), particularly Section 2(b), explicitly states that “basic education shall be free, compulsory, and universal.”
Additionally, Section 3 ensures that no child shall be excluded from education due to financial barriers.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Eduwatch’s Executive Director, Kofi Asare, expressed concern over the actions of some school heads, stressing that it is the government’s responsibility to fund school-based assessments.
He argued the government is responsible for financing these costs under the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) programme.
He explained, “Government has failed to provide funding for a school-based assessment and it has always been in the past and teachers, district education officers, school managers in the local level, in their bid to be innovative, have asked parents to support, in some schools, it has been made examination fee which upon default, the pupil will not be allowed to write the exams…..It is unacceptable that government does not finance the cost of school-based assessment. It is illegal for anyone to impose any fee on any basic school pupil, it flies in the face of the constitutional provision and legal provision for Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE).”
Eduwatch called for immediate action to stop these illegal practices and ensure that the principles of free, compulsory education are upheld across Ghana’s education system.
