The Upper East Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has directed the headmaster of the Tempane Senior High School, to hand over the running of the school to the directorate with immediate effect.
The directive follows a visit by the Deputy National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joshua Akamba to the school last week.
Joshua Akamba was seen in a video which has gone viral on various social media platforms, inciting some students of the school against government’s free SHS policy and incited the students to hoot at President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the said video.
He asked the students if they were experiencing issues with bedbugs in their dormitories as a result of congestion which has been occasioned by the free SHS policy, to which they responded in the affirmative.
He made the students show their bedbug bite scars to the cameras, and promised them their challenges would be over in 2020 if they vote out the NPP.
Meanwhile, the Tempane Divisional Police CID has invited Joshua Akamba over the video. He was accompanied by the Headmaster of Tempane Senior High School and the Garu Tempane NPP Constituency Secretary, Anabida Isaaka.
Mr. Joshua Akamba, who was on a tour of the Upper East Region as part of his campaign for the National Organizer position of the NDC, interacted with the students of the school, amidst chantings like “NDC”, “JM 2020”, “NDC 2020” when they saw the NDC colours on his car.
The video captured the students complaining bitterly to Mr. Joshua Akamba about their living conditions in the school, the congestion in the various dormitories leading to the outbreak of bed buds and bemoaned the reckless nature in which the noble free Senior High School programme is being implemented by the Akufo-Addo led government.
A letter sighted by citinewsroom.com, the GES directorate has also asked the headmaster to make available a full report on the incident and hand over the running of the school to the Regional Directorate of Education for superintending over political campaigns in the school without approval.
“You are by this letter requested to submit a full report on the incident to my office for onward submission to the Director General of Education.”
“You are equally directed to hand over the running of the school to the Regional Director of Education pending conclusion of investigations into the incident”, the letter added.
Read the full content of the letter below:
It has come to the attention of the Ghana Education Service that on Wednesday, 3rd October, 2018, your school compound was turned into a political party campaign rally ground without authorization.
You are however, aware that under no circumstances should premises of any school be made available to any politician campaign purpose.
You are by this letter requested to submit a full report on the incident to my office for onward submission to the Director-General of Education.
You are equally directed to hand over the running of the school to the Regional Director of Education pending conclusion of investigations into the incident.
The Ghana Education Service (GES), which has described the development “inciting students against President Nana Akufo -Addo and the Free SHS programme,” has asked political activists to refrain from campaigning in various secondary schools.
Management of GES condemns such acts and wishes to bring to the attention of the general public, especially political activists that the Ghana Education Service is a non-political state agency with the key responsibility of implementing pre-tertiary educational policy of the country and wishes to remain as such.
Meanwhile, all regional and district directors of Education and Heads of SHS have been directed to ensure that schools and students are not used for political activities without authorization.
Management wishes to assure parents and the general public that steps have been taken to ensure that students and school premises are immune from such unwarranted political interference.
