GES condemns political campaign in schools

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed all regional and district directors of education, as well as heads of senior high schools (SHSs), to ensure that school campuses and students are not used for political activities without authorisation.

A statement signed and issued by the Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Ms Cassandra Twum-Ampofo, said the attention of the management of the GES had been drawn to videos circulating on social media in which some political activists campaigning in the northern part of the country had entered some SHS campuses and incited the students against President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the free SHS programme.

Non-political state agency

“Management of GES condemns such acts and wishes to bring to the attention of the general public, especially all such political parties, that the Ghana Education Service is a non-political state agency with the key responsibility of implementing the pre-tertiary educational policy of the country and wishes to remain as such,” the statement said.

It further went on to assure parents and the general public that steps had been taken to ensure that students and school premises were immune from such unwarranted activities without authorisation.

Akamba video

A viral video capturing Mr Joshua Akamba, a national organiser aspirant of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) interacting with some students at the Tempane Senior High School in the Upper East Region about their deplorable conditions generated mixed public reactions.

But, in a rebuttal, Mr Akamba has denied going to the school purposely to campaign against the government, saying the students themselves complained to him about their plight when he was just passing through to Pusiga to embark on his campaign.

As a result, the Headmaster of the Tempane SHS, Mr Dominic Ndegu Amolale, has been suspended by the GES, with an instruction to hand over the management of the school to the Upper East Regional GES Director, Mr Augustine Ayirezang, to allow for investigations into the incident.

As of the time of filing this report, the GES Regional Director could not be reached for further explanation on the issue, as he was said to have travelled to the Tempane SHS to assess the situation there.

The headmaster of the Tempane Senior High School, Mr Dominic Ndegu Amolale on his part in radio interview explained that he was not on campus
when Mr Joshua Akamba visited the school.

Mr Ndegu Amolale explained that he was away in Navrongo at the time of the incident and only got to know about it via social media [Whatsapp] last Thursday.

Explaining, the headmaster said he did not know about the presence of Akamba in the school, saying: “The day these people came I was not even
on campus. I was in discussion with my regional director on the challenges the school is facing following the implementation of the double track system.”

He has subsequently decided to petition the GES over the decision to suspend him for allowing partisan politicking on his campus against the GES rules.

Mr Ndegu Amolale said he received his suspension letter Saturday morning with an instruction to handover the management of the school to Upper East
Regional GES Director to allow for investigations into the incident.

According to him, he took an action immediately he knew about the incident last Thursday around 11 pm by making a complaint to the police
for “unwarranted entry” into the school.