GES annuls dismissal of 51 students of Prempeh College for poor performance

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed the management of Prempeh College in Kumasi to reverse its decision to sack 51 first-year students at the end of the 2016/17 academic year because of poor performance.

It has further directed the management of the school to immediately draw up a remedial plan to support the affected students to enable them to complete their secondary education.

In an interview in Accra following the decision of the college to sack 51 students, the Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, said the affected students should be allowed to continue their education with their mates in second year, while arrangements were put in place for them to catch up with them.

Affected students

The affected students, some of whom have already left the school, are said to have failed in at least five subjects in the three terminal examinations of the last academic year, leading to their dismissal by the authorities of the school.

At the commencement of the 2017/2018 academic year, the authorities of the school were in a fix as to what to do with the affected students, following the introduction of the free SHS policy.

When some of the parents of the affected students heard reports of the dismissal of their children, they rushed to the school to discuss the fate of their children with the school authorities, but all staff members were tight-lipped on the issue.

Regional PRO calms nerves

The Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer of the GES, Ms Casandra Twum Ampofo, told the Daily Graphic that on hearing about the dismissal of the students, the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the GES invited the headmaster of Prempeh College for a meeting.

She said after the meeting, the management of the school decided to call a board meeting tomorrow for a final decision to be taken on the issue.

Ms Ampofo, therefore, appealed to all parents of the affected students to remain calm and wait for the decision of the board.

Remedial package

But the Director-General of the GES told the Daily Graphic that the headmaster had been given up to Friday, September 29 to produce the remedial package for the affected students.

“Since the issue came to our attention, we have spoken to him and he is going to give us a strategy to organise a remedial programme for them.

“So he is drawing up that programme and by the close of the week he will give us his plan of action to ensure that the school supports the children to do well. So the students are not going home,” Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said.

He asked all regional directors of the GES to visit all SHSs in their regions to ensure that students in similar situations were brought to the attention of the headquarters, “so that we will work to correct the situation”.