Staff of the Ghana Health Service contracted to undertake free health screening for students in the Senior High School have accused the Minister for Education, Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum and the Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Dr. Eric Nkansah of turning deaf ears to their call for the demand of an amount of GH 13 million Cedis owed them for the exercise.
According to the aggrieved staff of the GHS, the amount covers a period of three years since the inception of the Free Senior High School policy by the Akuffo-Addo administration but was stopped by the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service on the grounds of lack of funds, as claimed by the two institutions.
According to them, upon the release of funds by the government, the MoE and GES bypassed the GHS and contracted a private organization to undertake the exercise for the past three years failing to pay them their money.
They said they have made a series of attempts to demand the money, but the Minister of Education, Dr. Edu Twum, and the Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Dr. Eric Nkansah have refused to heed their call, turning a deaf ear to their plea.
Readers will recall that recently, sections of the media reported on the issue, noting that the move by the MoE and GES to contract a private organization to undertake such a sensitive national exercise is a bad one, as the results is meant to be used to assess the situation in case of outbreak of any disease in the country.
By: Robert Ayanful