Head teachers of public basic schools in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern Region have threatened to lay down their tools if the central government fails to pay their share of the Capitation Grant for the 2012/2013 academic year as soon as possible.
The worried teachers noted that even though President John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) government claim they are committed to providing quality education for the people in the country, they have failed to pay Capitation Grant to basic schools in the district for almost one-and-a-half year.
According to them, head teachers of basic schools throughout the country depend on the Capitation Grant to undertake educational activities, buy training and other learning materials to enhance the knowledge of their pupils.
Thus, they wondered how head teachers in the district could operate effectively without the Capitation Grant meant to improve the quality standard of education in basic public schools.
�We [the head teachers] of public schools particularly in Fanteakwa District want the Ministry of Education (MoE) to explain to us why the central government has not given us our share of the Capitation Grant.
�The government has not released the Capitation Grant for 2012 academic year, third trench. Besides, the Grant for the second and third trenches of 2013 academic have also not been paid,� they asked.
That situation, the head teachers indicated, has compelled many of them to use their own money to pre-finance the feeding fees of pupils in their various schools.
�However, with the current economic hardships, they asked: Can we [the head teachers] afford it? The MOE should explain government�s delay in the payment of the Capitation Grant. � government should also tell the public exactly when they will release the Capitation Grant,� they asked.
According to the head teachers, they recently received a small fraction of the unpaid Capitation Grant which could barely address the challenges for which the Grant was introduced.
Meanwhile, checks conducted by the paper in some public basic schools in six regions including Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Central and Western revealed that they are equally saddled with the same problem.
Today also found out that the same can be said for public basic schools in districts in the Upper East and the two northern regions.
According to some school heads, who spoke to Today on condition of anonymity, the Public School System was deteriorating under the NDC government.
They therefore called on government to expedite action on the payment of the Capitation Grant to avoid any unrest in public schools.
They were also unhappy that for some time now the Ghana Education Service (GES) has been rejecting most prepared School Performance Improvement Plans submitted by head teachers of public basic schools.
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