The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament at the first day of its sitting to consider the Auditor-General’s Report on pre-university educational institutions has decried the huge students’ indebtedness to some of the schools.<\/p>\n
It noted that the huge debt owed by the students to the schools, some dating as far back as a decade, did not augur well for the proper management and administration of national resources.<\/p>\n
The observations came to light on Tuesday during the committee’s public hearings in Kumasi to consider the Auditor-General\u2019s reports on the financial accounts of public pre-university educational institutions in the Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti regions.<\/p>\n
The reports were for 2005, 2006 and 2007.<\/p>\n
In all, 13 secondary schools from the Brong-Ahafo Region appeared before the committee to answer some of the outstanding queries from the Auditor-General’s Department.<\/p>\n
Topping the list of offences, were non deduction of taxes, purchases from non VAT entities, unsupported payment vouchers and misapplication of funds.<\/p>\n
Of the schools that appeared before the committee on Wednesday, Berekum Senior High School topped the list of the schools that had outstanding students’ debt of GH\u00a249, 517. 74.<\/p>\n
Explaining the circumstances leading to this development, the headmaster of the school, Mr. J. K. Agyei, explained that some of the debts dated as far back as the inception of the schools and had been maintained the school’s books till date.<\/p>\n
He said one of the strategies used to collect monies owed by students was to use the registration period for the West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to press on students to pay before registration.<\/p>\n
He said even with this tactics, “some of them are unable to pay all and will ask for extension of time,” which, he said the school always obliges.<\/p>\n
Mr. Agyei, however, noted that while some of the students return to pay, the rest fail to do so leading to the huge indebtedness to the school.<\/p>\n
In an answer to a suggestion by a member of the committee that the exorbitant fees charged by the schools were unbearable for the parents, Mr. Agyei explained that all the items of the school fees were approved by the government and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the school and as such, all the parents were aware.<\/p>\n
He, however, assured the committee that the school was doing everything to reduce students’ indebtedness to school.<\/p>\n
In the case of Jinijini Senior High School which had a query of GH\u00a219.9miIIion unrecorded, Kwadwo Apraku Tuffuor, headmaster of the school, explained that most of them were as result of the inability of the accounts department to reconcile the paper works which would have accounted for the items.<\/p>\n
According to him, some of the items were such that they were used at sites and did not pass through store and what was needed was for the bursar and the accountant to reconcile the paper work.<\/p>\n
Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah, chairman of the committee, who agreed with him, further explained that the auditor’s report actually stated that the items were used for the intended purposes, but they were not recorded by the bursar.<\/p>\n
He, thus, called on school heads to always ensure that those they supervised did the right thing as any mistake recorded by the auditing team would be blamed on them.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kan-Dapaah explained that the public hearings were not to witch hunt anyone, but an exercise imposed on Parliament by the Financial Administration Act which required that people entrusted with public funds, accounted for the resources.<\/p>\n
The schools which appeared yesterday included Berekum Presbyterian Senior High, Wenchi Secondary School, Kintampo Secondary School and Yeji Secondary Technical School.<\/p>\n
Source: The Ghanaian Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
See the original post here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament at the first day of its sitting to consider the Auditor-General’s Report on pre-university educational institutions has decried the huge students’ indebtedness to some of the schools. It noted that the huge debt owed by the students to the schools, some dating as far back as a decade, did not augur well for the proper management and administration of national resources<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
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