A fresh crisis is looming at the Hohoe Nursing and Midwifery Training College as authorities have unilaterally imposed a double-track academic system, igniting fierce backlash from parents and students, Ghanaian RADAR has gathered.
This paper understands that what is fueling this fresh tension on the campus of the college is the release of the 2025-2026 academic calendar by Principal Madam Phelomina Acquah’s administration, mandating staggered semesters—a move critics call a veiled attempt to enforce compulsory payments for privately rented hostels.
The policy defies the NDC government’s abolition of double-track systems and lacks parity with sister schools in Ho, Keta, and Kete-Krachi, where no such system exists.
Parents whose wards in the college have highlighted the disruptive schedule: Second-year students (RM18 and PHN3) will resume classes on August 18 and break on September 19 for clinical attachments, while first-year students (RM19 and PHN4) report on September 22, overlapping with third-years’ return from clinicals.
This disjointed timeline, they argued, imposes repeated accommodation costs on families.
“This is a trick to force hostel fees on us,” a parent alleged. “Other public nursing schools don’t exploit students this way.”
Despite directives from the Ghana Education Service, Health Ministry, and Hohoe MCE to consult stakeholders, the school proceeded without dialogue.
At a July 30 emergency meeting with BNI officials, Madam Acquah reportedly justified the fees as funding “developmental projects,” presenting documents claiming the policy predated her tenure.
“They ignored the agreement to engage parents and secretly switched to double-track,” a frustrated parent revealed.
“We cannot afford to carry this huge financial burden imposed on them by the school’s management,” the parents stated, urging immediate government intervention.
“We are requesting that the government of Ghana immediately intervenes in this pressing matter to ensure that parents are given the opportunity to rent their house facilities in the town for their students.” The parents appealed to the Ministers of Education and Health to direct the school’s management to allow parents to rent private rooms and provide meals for their children, alleviating the financial strain.
Parents are now demanding a return to the previous policy, where only first-years used school hostels. “We urge the Health and Education Ministries to halt this exploitation,” they pleaded. With tensions escalating, all eyes are on the government to mediate the standoff.
Story By: Yaovi Koryekpor Doe-Awlesu
