HEADMASTERS PLEAD FOR TIMELY RELEASE OF FEEDING GRANTS (D/G. Saturday, March 14, 2009. BACK PAGE)

THE Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools and Technical Institutions (CHASS) in the three northern regions has expressed concern over the persistent delays in the release of feeding grants for schools in the regions.
The heads, therefore, appealed to the government to ensure the timely release of funds to prevent the late reopening and early closure of schools.
The Upper East Regional Chairman of CHASS, Mr Patrick Tangonyire, made the appeal in a speech at the ninth joint northern CHASS conference held in the Upper East Region.
The theme for the three-day conference was: “Boarding school system, an instrument for quality education and peace in northern Ghana”.
Mr Tangonyire, who is also the Headmaster of Navrongo Senior High School, described as inadequate the feeding grant which is currently GH¢0.80 per student per day and proposed an increment.
He said as a result of the late payment, a lot of schools had accumulated debts due to the high prices of food and, therefore, advocated a special relief package by the government to help schools in the three northern regions to bring them back to real life.
Responding to the concerns raised by the leadership of CHASS, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Wayongo, pledged to collaborate with the regional ministers of the Northern and Upper West regions to find a lasting solution to the problems.
He, however, charged the heads of educational institutions in the region not to let the problems confronting them to distract them from their primary responsibility of character moulding and the realisation that the students were the most important resources.
Mr Wayongo said discipline could not be achieved in schools when rules and regulations were not strictly enforced. He, therefore, urged the heads of institutions to instil discipline in the students, stressing that “the world outside the school demands men and women full of self-discipline”.
Reverend Father Dr Augustine Abasi, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, who spoke on the theme for the conference, said apart from preparing students for personal growth and exceptional achievement, the boarding school system also provided opportunities for the development of character and leadership.
He said the boarding school system also had an enormous contribution to make in breaking ethnocentrism and prejudice. It also gave informed minds and attitudes that contributed to peace in the north.