GES releases millions in intervention funds with clear disbursement guidelines, but Central Regional CHASS executives have reportedly devised a counter-strategy that undermines the authority of the Ghana Education Service.
In a shocking display of insubordination, the Central Regional branch of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has been caught on audio attempting to override a legitimate directive from the Ghana Education Service (GES) regarding the disbursement of the Academic Intervention Fund for the 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026 academic years.
The development comes just days after GES management issued a clear and unambiguous directive to all Regional Directors and Heads of Senior High and Technical Schools, outlining the approved disbursement ratios for the funds. In that directive, the GES explicitly defined management staff as Heads, Assistants, Senior Housemasters/Mistresses, and Accountants, and allocated a 5% share for management in both day and boarding schools.
The Audio That Exposes Defiance
An audio recording from Central Regional CHASS platform and shared by various Heads to their school platform reveals a deliberate move to circumvent the GES directive. The transcribed conversation instructs members to treat Senior Housemasters and Mistresses as teaching staff, effectively allowing them to benefit from the 70% share allocated for teachers in boarding schools.
The audio, which has surfaced on social media, includes the following instructions:
“Going by that, senior housemasters and mistresses are joining the teaching staff… The bursars or the accountant are joining the non-teaching staff, then we have assistant heads and head for management.”
This instruction is a direct contradiction of the GES directive, which explicitly lists Senior Housemasters/Mistresses under management staff. By reclassifying them as teaching staff, these CHASS executives are attempting to grant them a larger share of the intervention fund at the expense of ordinary classroom teachers who actually deliver the academic interventions.
GES Directive vs. CHASS Interpretation
The GES directive is crystal clear: management staff (including Senior Housemasters/Mistresses) receive 5%, teaching staff receive 70% (boarding) or 75% (day), and non-teaching staff receive 25% (boarding) or 20% (day).
Yet Central Regional CHASS is pushing for Senior Housemasters/Mistresses to be classified as teaching staff. This is precisely the kind of abuse the GES directive was designed to prevent.
“Don’t Get Yourself Into Any Unnecessary Issue”
Perhaps the most troubling part of the audio is the instruction: “Don’t get yourself into any unnecessary issue. Ensure that your name appears once and nothing more.”
This veiled warning appears designed to intimidate members into compliance while creating a veneer of legitimacy. Meanwhile, the GES directive explicitly states that under no circumstance should any staff benefit from more than one category.
Who Is Who Exactly, GES Or CHASS?
The Central Regional CHASS appear to have forgotten a fundamental truth: CHASS does not direct the disbursement and modalities of the monies—GES does.
The Academic Intervention Fund is public money disbursed by the Ghana Education Service under the authority of the Director-General. It is not CHASS’s money to redistribute according to their whims. Their role, at best, is to facilitate the implementation of GES directives—not to rewrite them to suit their own interests.
This latest act of defiance follows a pattern of CHASS overstepping its mandate. In recent years, the Association has been accused of enabling the supply of underweight food items to schools rather than challenging the system, and has previously issued resolutions threatening actions far beyond their authority.
What Must Happen Next
GES authorities must take immediate and decisive action:
- Investigate the audio recording and identify the CHASS executives involved in this scheme.
- Issue a public reprimand reminding all heads that GES directives are not optional.
- Threaten sanctions for any school that implements the illegal disbursement plan.
- Reiterate the directive with a warning that heads who violate it will be held personally accountable.
As the audio makes clear, the heads acknowledge: “We are the managers of the school and so note that when anything goes wrong, you’ll be the first to be called and not those who will bring the trouble.”
The time has come for GES to make good on that expectation and bring the full weight of their authority to bear on these recalcitrant administrators.
The GES is the employer and the paymaster—not CHASS. It is time they remember that.
Listen to the full audio below:
Published By: Justice Donkoh | GESHub.org
