GES slashes fees of final year students by 50 per cent

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has slashed the third term fees of final year students in public Senior High Schools (SHS) by 50 per cent.

The reduction in fees is because the students who will commence their 2018 WASSCE exams in April and end on June 1, 2018, will spend only seven weeks instead of the full 14 weeks in school.

This was contained in a memo from the Director General of the GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa and directed to all Regional Directors of Education.

The memo stated that “Management has noted that Senior High Schools will reopen for the third term of the current academic year on 16th April, 2018 and will end on 2nd July 2018, which interprets into 14 weeks.

“It has also been noted that final year students will write the final paper for the WASSCE on the 1st of June 2018. This means final year students will be in school for the third term from 16th April to 1st June, 2018, which also interprets into seven weeks. The implication is that final year students will be in school for exactly half of the normal term,” the statement said.

“It is therefore directed that final year students should pay one half or fifty percent of the fees for the third term,” the statement said.

It added, however, that adjustments could be made if students are made to stay through the Easter vacation.

“In the instance where the final year students will be asked to stay in school during the current holidays or will re-open on 16th April 2018, the fees should be adjusted to reflect the number of weeks they will be spending in school,” it said.