A pundit has advised the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) to fast-track the approval and disbursement of a stimulus package for private schools across the country, in an effort to lessen the impact of the novel coronavirus on their operations.
This follows the delay in disbursement of funds by the NBSSI to the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) for part of the GHC600 million stimulus package announced by President Akufo-Addo.
The council is said to have presented applications for 4,300 schools out of its 22,000 members to the NBSSI. GNACOPS is asking the stimulus package to pay 94,000 out of 400,000 teachers in total.
Delays in release
Speaking to Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show, Kofi Asare, executive director of the policy research group Africa Education Watch, warned that any delay in releasing the funds on time could worsen the plight of most teachers in the private sector.
Some of them have not been paid for the past five months.
On Sunday, in his 16th address to the nation since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, President Akufo-Addo announced the postponement of the remainder of academic year for all nursery, kindergarten, primary, JHS1 and SHS1 pupils to January 2021.
Mitigate impact
Asare believes the timely disbursement of the money will go along way to alleviate the plight of private schools, most of which have struggled to pay their teachers for the past five months.
“In all this, I also think that if private schools – we have about 36,000 such schools, the majority of which charge GHC200 to GHC400 a term – have laid off about 100,000 teachers since March and the only assurance of getting their next salary this year is reopening, that for me is the greatest issue: not the schools but the teachers,” he said.
“That is why we are of the opinion that their share, if any, of the GHC600 million relief should have been disbursed by now. Over 10,000 of them, I am told, have applied, but they are yet to receive any positive news.
“So, if we can have a way of mitigating the impact of the prolonged closure of schools on teachers in private schools, I think it will be doing a lot of good to the education sector, because private schools play a critical role in providing quality education across the country,” he said.
Fred Dzakpata
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