Several schools in our constituencies have not received their tablets – Minority

The government’s refusal to reimburse suppliers for tablets and other educational supplies, together with the hold-up in marking the scripts for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), have caused great alarm among the Minority in Parliament.

Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, the ranking member on education, charged earlier today in a news conference that the government was not paying a tablet supplier who was worth more than GHS6 billion.

The Senior High School (SHS) program paid for the tablets’ purchase, but the government’s lack of funding has prevented the supplier from getting paid.

The Minority is also worried about the government’s misrepresentation of information about tablet distribution.

The Minority has discovered that only 1,358,000 tablets were actually obtained, despite the government’s claims to have distributed 900,000 tablets. The supplier is having difficulty repaying the loan that it was forced to take out in currencies denominated in dollars in order to pay for the tablets.

The minority also wants the government to provide information on how many pupils and how many schools have received the tablets.

The Minority claimed to have discovered that Avers Senior High School and Bosa South Senior High School, among other schools in their constituency, had not gotten the tablets.

Additionally, in order for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to marking BECE scripts, the Minority is requesting that the government send monies to WAEC.

The delay in marking has resulted in WAEC postponing the marking of scripts from this month to September, which will disrupt the school calendar.

The Minority is urging the government to take immediate action to address these issues and avoid further disruptions to the education system.