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The Ministry of Education has received clearance from the Ministry of Finance to replace, recruit and re-appoint 22,802 teaching and non-teaching staff this year.
The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, said the Ministry of Education had accordingly directed the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to go through the process of employing the staff in the first and second cycle institutions.
He was answering a question posed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North, Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, on when the Ministry would employ the 22,802 teaching and non-teaching staff approved by the Ministry of Finance in 2016 to fill the numerous vacancies in the first and second cycle institutions in Parliament today (Tuesday).
Dr Opoku Prempeh said the process of employing the staff had started and that the management of GES was working out the modalities for the engagement of the staff.
"The entire process of employment of these staff will be completed by the end of the year," he said.
Dr Opoku Prempeh said the recruitment and replacement became necessary due retirement and reassignment of staff as well the fact that some of the staff were on study leave.
He said the various schools had been asked to declare their vacancies, and indicated that the recruitments would be based on the vacancies available in each of the schools.
The Education Minister said the engagement of the 22,802 teaching and non-teaching staff had been catered for in the 2017 budget.
Dr Opoku Prempeh said the implementation of the free Senior High School (SHS) education policy was going on well despite the challenges of lack of classrooms and inadequate furniture.
He said the government would take steps to address the challenges of classrooms and furniture in the public SHS schools, saying "we will rise up to the occasion."
He was speaking in Parliament today (Tuesday) in response to a question posed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North, Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, for detailed information on the free SHS policy, which began in September, 2017.
Dr Opoku Prempeh said the implementation of the free SHS had lessened the burden on parents who hitherto had to struggle to raise school fees for their children.
"It is far better to have the children in school than have them out of school. It has removed financial burden on parents and pressure on offices," he said.
Dr Opoku Prempeh said every Ghanaian child who was placed into a public second cycle institution by the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) during the 2017 school placement was enjoying the free SHS.
However, he said, foreigners and continuing students repeating in form one were not eligible to benefit from the free SHS.
The Education Minister said all fees approved by the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council for first year students, other than parents teacher association (PTA) dues, had been absorbed by the government.
He mentioned fees for two sets of uniforms, two sets of house dress, examination, utility and examination as some of the fees absorbed by the government.
Besides, he said, the government provided three meals for boarders and one hot meal for all day students, provision of core textbooks and subsidies for all continuing students in form two and firm three.
Dr Opoku Mathew said grand total total of approved fees for the first term of the 2017/2018 academic year for SHS and Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) stood at GHc748 for day students and GHc1,104 for boarding students.
He said an initial 20 per cent of the funds had been transferred to the schools based on the number of students placed.
"The remaining amount due schools will be transferred based on validated school list and submission of expenditure returns," he said.
