The National Executive Director of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS), Obenfo Nana Kwasi Gyetuah, has voiced strong opposition to any attempt by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to regulate Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) in schools.
This comes after the GES issued a directive instructing all public pre-tertiary institutions to reinstate PTAs, in accordance with a presidential order originally issued by President John Dramani Mahama.
However, Mr. Gyetuah argues that the GES has overstepped its mandate.
According to him, the Pre-tertiary Education Act 1049 does not grant the GES authority to establish regulatory guidelines for PTAs.
He contends that PTAs are independent, voluntary organizations, and therefore cannot be subject to external rules imposed by bodies outside their membership.
In an exclusive interview with LeakyGhana.com, Mr. Gyetuah emphasized that PTA membership is a matter of personal choice, not a legal obligation.
He added that these associations are governed by their own articles of incorporation and should not be directed by guidelines from institutions that are not part of their structure.
“l support the reinstatement of PTAs in all schools as communicated by GES, but GES is statutorily barred by the Pre-tertiary Education Act 1049 from setting guidelines for the regulation of PTAs’ operations in schools as purported in GES’s current communiqué.
The recommendation is that PTAs are voluntary associations where affiliations are not by operation of law but by voluntary decisions of persons. Therefore, such associations are managed by articles of incorporation but not by guidelines that are developed by another institution that is not a member of the PTAs”, he said in the interview.
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