Aheto-Tsegah: Ineffective school management harming free SHS policy success

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Dr. Charles Aheto-Tsegah, a former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has expressed serious concerns about the management of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, attributing the challenges to poor management practices within schools.

 

While he acknowledged the positive impact of the policy, which has enhanced access to education, Dr. Aheto-Tsegah emphasized that operational difficulties are undermining its success. The Mahama administration has pledged to review the policy in order to address these issues.

 

In an interview on Channel One TV’s Face to Face with Umaru Sanda Amadu, Dr. Aheto-Tsegah pointed to the centralized management system as a key factor weakening the authority of headmasters. He explained that headmasters, who are responsible for ensuring the effective operation of schools, have had their decision-making powers significantly limited.

 

He also criticized the lack of oversight headmasters have over critical aspects of school administration, such as meal management and the replacement of torn books. Dr. Aheto-Tsegah noted that these restrictions have led to inefficiencies and have negatively impacted the overall success of the Free SHS policy.

 

Dr. Aheto-Tsegah called for a comprehensive review of the policy’s implementation framework to empower school authorities and address the challenges that threaten the sustainability of the initiative.

 

“In answering his [Mahama] direct question on what is wrong with Free SHS, I would tell him that it is the management of secondary schools. Once the management of secondary schools was taken away from the headmasters who had a responsibility to ensure that their schools worked, then we undermined the authority of the headmaster. In terms of ensuring that everything in the school system worked,” he explained.

 

He further added, “If you refuse them in terms of directing what kind of meals should be prepared for the students, then you are taking a big chunk of the work away from them. If you refuse them from deciding what kind of meals the children can eat, you are taking away a strong power from them in terms of their feeding.”

 

Dr. Aheto-Tsegah stressed that the lack of authority given to headmasters in areas such as teacher appointments and the provision of learning materials has created substantial barriers to the successful implementation of Free SHS.

 

“If you don’t give them the right to decide on how to ensure that there are regular replacements for torn books and all of those things, you’re affecting them. If you refuse to allow them the chance to literally have control over the teachers who teach in the schools for them to decide whether a teacher can continue to be in that school, you have taken a big chunk of the whole administrative thing from them,” he concluded.

 

 

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