Let’s support gov’t in Free SHS implementation – Dormaahene

The Omanhene of Dormaa Traditional Area, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, says government alone cannot surmount the challenges confronting the implementation of the Free SHS programme, one of the monumental policies in the country’s education sector.

Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II believes that considering the enormous benefits the country stands to derive from the Free SHS, all hands must be on deck to make it successful.

While commending the NPP government for the initiative, the Dormaahene who is also the President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs, noted that corporate bodies and all other stakeholders must offer the needed support towards the policy.

Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II was addressing a colourful durbar to climax activities marking the 75th anniversary celebrations of Dormaa Senior High School (DORMASS) at Dormaa Ahenkro.

Among the large crowd that witnessed the occasion were the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah; the MP for Dormaa Central and Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu; Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu-Banahene and Mr. James Oppong Boanuh, a former Inspector-General of Police.

The Dormaahene called on the government to reconsider the compulsory payment of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) dues by students to cushion headmasters in their day-to-day running of their schools.

The Headmaster DORMASS, Nicholas Asamoah, noted that the school, which is the first public second cycle school to be established in the Bono region, has in the last 75 years recorded both successes and challenges.

He said the school is currently under-staffed and lacks accommodation facilities for teachers and non-teaching staff while the existing dormitories for students are nothing to write home about and called for urgent steps to be taken to address the problem.