Mr Dedacus Afegra, Headmaster of the Bolgatanga Senior High School (SHSs) in the Upper East Region, at the weekend appealed to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Electricity Company to consider SHSs as a domestic user since the school was not a commercial entity.
Mr Afegra, who made the appeal at a meeting of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at Winkogo in the Bolgatanga Municipality, explained that billing schools as commercial entities was seriously affecting the expenditure of SHSs especially that of the northern Regions.
He said Government this year had to release a sum of 11,000 utility subsidies for electricity , water and telephone bills, and said electricity bill alone of the school stood at 22,9290.00 Ghana Cedis.
He said the school was doing everything to ensure that students did not misapply electricity and water, and asked parents to advise their children to learn how to conserve electricity and water since government could not afford to pay such huge amounts for public property.
He mentioned inadequate toilet facilities as another major problem confronting the school as that often forced some of the students to go to
the bush to free themselves, hence wasting precious time and also risk snake bites.
Mr Afegra called on parents to ensure that students did not send mobile phones to school, since majority of them engaged themselves making
unnecessary calls at the expense of their studies.
On the academic performance of the school, the Headmaster indicated that the School registered 404 candidates for 2009 examination, out of which 383 students representing 94.3 per cent qualified for tertiary education.
He attributed the students' performance to hard work and dedication of the teaching staff, adding that, the school had also maintained high
standards of discipline.
He applauded government for awarding the fencing of the school to a contractor and said it would help protect the school land from encroachers.
The outgoing PTA Chairman, Mr Emmanuel N Kpeungu, commended the teachers for their hard work and said apart from the normal lesson hours, the teachers also sacrificed to give the students extra classes.
He said the Association bought 26 computers for the school at a cost of 9,155.16 Ghana cedis, and was also putting up a building that could
accommodate four teachers, each occupying two bed rooms and a hall with one common yard, at an amount of 40,000.00 Ghana cedis.
He appealed to parents to pay regular visits to the school to interact with their children and teachers, to see how their children were faring in
their academic and social lives.
He expressed concern about the abuse of drugs such as kola nuts and Indian hemp by students with the excuse that they did not want to sleep in
their attempt to study, and called on parents to team up with the teachers to educate them of its effects on their health.