GES Condemns Killing of Asiakwa Teacher

Director General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa

The management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has condemned the killing of Mr George Somuah Bosompem, a teacher of the Salvation Army Basic School at Asiakwa in the Eastern Region, by some youth.

"The Director-General and management of the GES have learnt with shock and disbelief the killing of Mr Bosompem. Management strongly condemns in no uncertain terms the killing of 55-year old Mr Bosompem, who has been described by his local Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) as a very calm and reserved man," the Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, said in a statement issued in Accra last Saturday.

The statement extended the sincerest sympathy of the GES to the widow of Mr Bosompem, his three young children, the entire family, his staff and pupils and the local community "of which he was a strong pillar and hope the Lord will keep and guard over them in these difficult and shocking times."

Background

Mr George Somuah Bosompem, a Religious and Moral Education teacher at the Asiakwa Salvation Army Basic School, died at the St Joseph's Hospital in Koforidua where he was rushed to after the attack on April 28, 2019,

He was said to have protested against the invasion of his garden by drug addicts who smoked in the garden and defecated in the school.

Assault

Mr Bosompem’s protest did not go down well with some young people who brutally assaulted him.

He was initially admitted to the Kibi Hospital but later transferred to the St Joseph's Hospital.

So far, six suspects, all teenagers, have been arrested in connection with the death of Mr Bosompem.

Five before court

Five of them were put before the Kibi District Magistrate Court and were remanded into police custody to reappear on May 14, 2019.

The five, who are facing provisional charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder, are Richard Amaning, 18; Mireku Emmanuel, 17; Philip Okodie, 17; Paul Boadu, 18, and Ezekiel Boadu, 19.

A sixth suspect, Aboagye Evans, alias Otega, 18, was picked up last Friday night when he returned to the town from his hideout.

The incident has led to the closure of the Salvation Army Basic School as the teachers have withdrawn their services temporarily.

Source: Daily Graphics

Free SHS: Over 100 private schools on verge of collapse – CHOPPS

About half of the 280 Private Senior High schools in the country could be forced to shut down within the next few years due to the dwindling level of student enrollment in these schools, the Conference of Heads of Private Second Cycle Schools (CHOPPS) has warned. 

CHOPPS said the new trend could also lead to massive job losses.

CHOPPS has expressed concerns over the collapse of private schools since the inception of the Free SHS policy.

Though government subsequently absorbed 15 private secondary schools to help meet the growing intake of students, CHOPPS has consistently called for more assistance from government.

Speaking to Citi News on the level of engagement between CHOPPS and the government, the General Secretary of the schools, Joseph Dzamesi said all attempts to address the problem had failed.

“280 private schools are in the country. Within the next couple of years we are estimating that about 50% of them will be out of business. Currently about a third of them are on life support, barely surviving. And a number of them have completely collapsed.

“When you look at it in terms of the economics, they have estimated that both teaching and non teaching staff , private senior high schools employ about 10,000 people across the country. Obviously your guess is as good as mine. That means that when about half of them collapse over the next couple of years, about 5,000 jobs are gonna be lost in terms of the students.We provide access to about 70,000 children and now a bunch of the classrooms are empty. Students are struggling with the double track.”

CHOPPS had expressed its reservations with Government’s absorption of 15 private schools under the Free Senior High School Policy.

The General Secretary for CHOPSS, Joseph Dzamesi, said the 15 schools had given up because of low student intake and had essentially become government schools.

“…Absorbed, meaning these are headmasters who have given up. They don’t have students in their classrooms so they have given up control, facilities and everything to the government to run, ” he told Citi News.

Mr. Dzamesi stressed that the private schools are looking for a partnership, not to cede control of their schools.

“They [absorbed schools] have become government schools just like Achimota Schools or some mission schools that have been given to government to run. So that is not what we are talking about. We are asking for partnership and they have thrown that away completely.”

“We presented proposals to government and as far as I know, none of the proposals were taken,” he added.

The Education Minister has explained that any form of collaboration with private schools requires more time and engagement.

The Ghana Education Service has a committee that assesses the infrastructure level of the private schools and their human resources before any possible partnership or absorption can go ahead.

“The schools that come, they come with different levels of infrastructure needs. That is why the Ghana Education Service has a committee that goes to assess those schools that goes to assess those schools that even come and knock on their doors to be absorbed,” Dr. Opoku-Prempeh told the media on Monday.

“Government should have a capital outlay in making sure that the teachers there are qualified. The government cannot send public students to places where the teachers are unqualified. It means that the government should have the budget to absorb those teachers or to make sure they can post teachers to those places.”

Poetry

People hate me like hell fire

Yet am part of them

Trying their best to avoid me but instead am more like a tick

They try their best in pretends to make me happy

Yet still am the same

The best counselor can never take me away

Cause I never go astray

I am glued to the innermost part of emotional feeling

I am just six (6) letter word yet still I am mightier than Goliath

By: Ms. Adu Esther (2A 1)