COVID-19 UPDATE: INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN GHANA REDUCE SCHOOL FEES FOR THE NEXT TERM

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the economies of the world.

Ghana is not left out of these economic challenges. Some Ghanaians have lost their jobs while others now receive half of their salaries prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Sunday (March 16, 2020), President Akufo-Addo directed schools in the country to shut down until further notice.

“All Universities, Senior High Schools, and basic schools, i.e. public and private schools, will be closed Monday, 16th March 2020, till further notice. The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communication, has been tasked to roll out distance learning programmes,” he said.

This means that for almost half of the second term, students have not been in school. Some parents and guardians have been asking that the authorities in the school should reduce the fees for the subsequent term when school resumes.

In response to the please from parents, some international schools have reduced their fees for the next term.

The British International School for instance in its letter to parents said: “The school management has decided to do a further reduction of school fees.”

“Penalties will be waived off for late school payment for the COVID-19 period.”

The letter from the British International School saif they would have loved to reduce the fees further but “this will affect the payment of teachers’ salaries.”

Galaxy International School in its letter to parents said even though they encountered challenges towards the end of the second term “we were able to organize lessons online because education must continue uninterrupted,” adding that teachers are preparing to teach online for the next term till students can come back to the school.

“Management has reduced the fees for the 3rd term of the 2019/2020 academic term by 50% as a supportive gesture for parents in these trying times.”

The letter explained that the school solely depends on the fees to cater for expenses including staff salaries which still needed to be paid.

For the Ghana International School (GIS) its letter to parents said that it can only offer a 5% discount and 10% for infant school on fees of students.

However, some parents are not happy with the given discount. They expect from 30% to 50% discount on fees.

But a letter from the school said it can only waive 5% of the school fees off and would not reduce it any further.

Author: Magdalene Teiko Larnyoh Source: Pulse Ghana