Parents commend Education Minister, appeal for extension of reopening date

Some parents and other stakeholders in the country’s education sector have commended Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, for this year’s peaceful and event-free school placement exercise.

According to them, apart from it being peaceful and event-free, the parents were particularly happy that they did not waste much time at the various resolution centres across the country as the staff worked so hard to contain them.

In an Interview with Mr Appiah Adomako Kusi, Country Director of CUT International, he said this year’s school placement had been a good improvement on last year’s one which had a few challenges.

He lauded the Minister of Education and other stakeholders for putting in place various remedial measures to ensure that the exercise took place smoothly for the good of all.

Mr Kusi, however, called for the extension of the reopening date for the first-year students due to the late commencement of the self-placement exercise nationwide.

“Most parents and guardians in the country would be very happy if the reopening day for the first-year students had been extended for some two weeks so that parents could have ample time to prepare their children to go to school,” he said.

The Country Director also appealed to the Education Ministry to address challenges associated with the supply of food stock to the schools so that students could stay in school peacefully without food shortage.

The Ministry established a Resolution Centre across the country to address challenges of school placement.

At the Accra Resolution Centre at the headquarters of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, some parents in an interview, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the customer care officers at the centre, describing it as very cordial.

They said, the regular announcement made to the parents and guardians at the resolution centre made the process much simple for them so they could be served.

Madam Sheila Mantey, a trader from Adabraka, said there was the need for the teams used this year, be maintained to continue rendering such good services to parents each time there was school placement.

She also added her voice to the call for the reopening date to be extended for two weeks to afford parents ample time to purchase the needed items for their children and wards.

The Education Ministry in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and Ghana Technical and Vocational Education and Training Service (TVETS) started the self-placement exercise on March 28, 2022 for successful Junior High School graduates who could not get placed during the automatic placement exercise.

As a result, parents and guardians rushed to all the 16 Resolution Centres across the country to meet with the technical teams put in place to assist them to resolve their issues.

Some of the common issues brought to the centres were the change of gender, change, of course, change of school due to location and assistance to do self-placement among others.