According to them, the course should have formed part of their curriculum instead of being made a separate programme all together. The students, who pleaded anonymity for fear of being victimised, said apart from the course being separated from what made up the curriculum, the school authorities were charging each student GH¢300 before allowing them to take part in the course. They, therefore, called on the Ministry of Health (MOH), and, for that matter the government, to call the school authorities to order to save them from what they termed as “exploitation”. However, when contacted, the Principal of the school, Dr Emmanuel Adjase, said the IMCI course was optional and therefore, not compulsory for everyone. He admitted that the fee being charged was GH¢300, explaining that the programme, which entailed the use of models and other teaching/ learning materials, was an expensive one. He said part of the course which formed part of the curriculum had already been treated with the students, and emphasised that the other part, for which GH¢300 was being charged, was optional. The students, particularly, those in the final year, said they had been asked to write application letters to the authorities to enable themwrite their final exam. Moreover, they said, the authorities had not told them when they would be writing their final examination. Responding to these concerns, Dr Adjase said it was not true that the students had been asked to write application letters before being granted the permission to write the final examination. He asked whether students going to write the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examinations had to write application letters before being permitted to write their papers. He expressed shock at the comments of the students that they were not aware of when they were going to write their final examination, adding that there was an academic calendar which spelt out when examinations would be written, among other academic activities. Dr Adjase also expressed concern about the attitude of the students going to the media to complain instead of using the channels that existed in the school to seek for clarification on issues they did not understand. |
