Dismissed from school for not paying 20 peswas

Pupils of the Holy Rosary Catholic School in Adenta, Accra, are being sacked from their normal classes for not being able to pay 20Gp (¢2,000) meant for extra classes for the pupils, investigations by GO have revealed. A source, whose ward is in Primary 3 in the same school, had earlier told GO that he later got know he was paying fees for extra classes, when in fact he never gave his ward the money to pay for the extra classes because he felt it wasn’t compulsory. He explained that his ward complained to him on various occasions that she and some of her mates were sacked a number of times from their classes when normal classes was in progress, for not paying the extra classes fee. He added that to avoid the shame his ward would use her pocket money to pay for the fees so that she could join her other mates for the normal classes. He further added that his ward gets home the normal time school closes so he does not even believe they take `the so called extra classes.` He expressed his total disgust for the treatment the children receive because of failure to pay the extra fees. During our investigations, GO spoke to the Headmistress of the school, who was not willing to either deny the facts or accept them. She claimed that the parents agreed to pay for the extra classes because they could not afford to get private extra classes tutors. She was quite hostile and would not give her name to the reporter. After being asked the same question `why the students were sacked in their normal classes for not paying for the extra classes,` she flared up, saying she was new in the school and didn`t know anything about it. However, she did not allow any teacher to speak to GO, claiming the teachers were not present when the parents made the decision and that for further information, GO should speak to the parents themselves. Newsmen found a way to speak to a teacher whose name is withheld; he confirmed the story, saying the primary students have been facing that problem for some time now. He added that he had heard some complaints from the students but would not give out the names of the teachers who are involved for fear of losing his job. While the reporter was questioning the teacher, word came from the Headmistress` office that the reporter should leave the school because her queries had already been responded to. The reporter was virtually thrown out of the school by some angry teachers. Meanwhile, other attempts to find out from the Catholic Education Unit whether they were aware of the anomaly at the Adental school did not yield any results.