Achimota Preparatory School petitions Parliament over GES takeover
The PTA of Achimota Preparatory School subsequently announced that it would resist all efforts or attempts by the GES to take over the management of the school, accusing the GES of acting in bad faith in the matter
The Member of Parliament for Okaikwei North, Theresa Lardi Awuni has presented a petition to Parliament, signed by the Board, Management and PTA of the Achimota Preparatory School to investigate the takeover of the school by the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education.
In the petition, the PTA of the school has accused the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education, Monica Ankrah of attempting to bully the school into submission.
Earlier in April this year, officials of the Ghana Education Service in the district locked up the offices and classrooms of the school, after a court order instructed the GES to take over the management of the school.
A statement from the GES indicated that the ruling was delivered in March 2020.
According to the GES, the space occupied by the preparatory school was a part of the land belonging to the Achimota School, under the Achimota School Ordinance No. 7 & 1948.
The preparatory school had been established in the colonial era by expatriates for the education of their children, staff of the Achimota School and the then University College of the Gold Coast.
Management of the school was however gradually left to locals who subsequently established a management committee to oversee the running of the school as a private institution, a legacy which has persisted till date.
According to the GES, the Achimota School granted a lease to the preparatory school to continue its operations on the premises some time ago in the 1960s. The lease however expired in 1970. Efforts to return the ownership of the land and the buildings to the Achimota School however proved futile.
The PTA of Achimota Preparatory School subsequently announced that it would resist all efforts or attempts by the GES to take over the management of the school, accusing the GES of acting in bad faith in the matter.
In a 31st December, 2019 petition submitted to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Achimota Preparatory School indicated that the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education, Monica Ankrah “sought to use her position to bully and threaten that our school, a legally registered corporate [organisation] will be taken over by the GES on the 27th January 2020.”
The current petition presented to Parliament has since been referred to the Education Committee of the House for further deliberations.
