NCPTA Challenges GES Over School Dues as High Court Reinstates Bolgatanga Technical University Vice Chancellor

The National Council of Parent Teacher Association (NCPTA) has formally challenged a directive from the Ghana Education Service (GES) that prohibits Senior High Schools (SHS) from collecting PTA dues and levies. Issued on September 23, 2026, the GES directive instructed school heads to immediately halt the collection of all unauthorized fees, citing complaints from parents regarding admission charges and mandatory PTA contributions. The GES emphasized that under the Free Senior High School policy, no student should be denied admission or access to services due to unpaid fees. However, the NCPTA argued on September 24 that this directive directly contradicts a High Court injunction granted on July 21, 2026, which was intended to preserve the status quo during an ongoing legal dispute between the association and the government.

According to the NCPTA, while membership and the payment of dues are voluntary, the GES directive interferes with the association's operational rights. The council has expressed its intention to seek further clarification from the GES while urging its branches to continue lawful operations in accordance with previous court orders. The GES has warned school heads that failure to comply with the freeze on unauthorized fees will result in administrative sanctions and has mandated that any such fees already collected must be refunded. This tension highlights a deepening conflict between the regulatory authority of the GES and the independent management of parent-teacher organizations across the country's public schools.

In a parallel legal development within the tertiary sector, the High Court in Bolgatanga has ruled that the removal of Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa as the Vice Chancellor of Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) was illegal. The court found that the Governing Council's decision to terminate his appointment, along with two other officers, was flawed due to a lack of a required quorum during the meeting where the decision was reached. Furthermore, the court declared the formation of the Special Investigative Committee that led to these terminations as illegal, effectively nullifying the council's actions.

The court’s ruling has ordered the immediate reinstatement of Professor Alnaa and the two other affected officers to their respective positions at the university. This judgment marks a significant victory for administrative due process in Ghana’s higher education institutions, underscoring the necessity for governing councils to adhere strictly to statutory procedures. As both the NCPTA and the leadership at BTU navigate these judicial outcomes, the education sector faces a period of recalibration where institutional directives must increasingly withstand rigorous legal scrutiny.