The Chief Executive Officer of Prospectus Ghana Limited (PGL), Jude Fosu Gyamfi, has defended the company’s senior high school (SHS) prospectus supply programme, insisting that the initiative is legal, voluntary and designed to make students’ admission and reporting to school more convenient for parents.
His comments come amid growing controversy over the programme after the National Council of Parents-Teachers Associations (NCPTA) accused PGL, which operates the EduPack programme, of attempting to force parents to buy prospectus items from a single source.
In a statement issued on September 9, 2026, the NCPTA urged parents and guardians not to pay any money to EduPack PGL and instead purchase prospectus items from the open market. The association alleged that parents were being directed to pay GH¢1,617 for items including a metal trunk or suitcase, plastic chop box, Macintosh mattress and Macintosh pillow.
The NCPTA described the arrangement as “deception” and “extortion” and called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to take legal and administrative action against the company.
But in an exclusive interview with Metro TV Online, Mr Gyamfi rejected the allegations and said neither PGL nor GES had made it compulsory for parents to purchase the items from the company.
He said the programme was intended to replace a system that had existed for years, arguing that parents and students often face significant difficulties transporting mattresses, trunks, pillows, food and other items from their homes to schools.
According to him, students travelling from distant parts of the country to boarding schools sometimes have to travel with heavily loaded trunks and other belongings, with parents and other family members accompanying them to bus stations.
“We have practised this system for far too long, and it is not helping anybody,” he said, arguing that students should instead be allowed to report to school through a more organised and convenient system.
Mr Gyamfi said the company had presented the proposal to the Ghana Education Service, which, according to him, considered the benefits before supporting its implementation.
He stressed that the arrangement was not compulsory.
“If it is compulsory, and they go to the Ghana Education Service, what will they say? They will tell them that they have not shared anywhere that it is compulsory. It is not compulsory,” he said.
Bedbug concerns
A major justification for the programme, Mr Gyamfi said, is the persistent problem of bedbug infestations in boarding schools, particularly when large numbers of students arrive from different homes carrying their own mattresses, pillows and other belongings.
He recounted a personal experience during a visit to a ward at a school, saying he saw bedbugs crawling out of a bench on which he had been sitting.
He argued that although schools may fumigate their premises before students report, infestations can quickly return when students arrive with potentially infested belongings.
His proposed solution is for students to stop bringing mattresses, pillows, trunks and similar items from home and instead receive new items supplied directly from factories.
According to him, the items can then be sanitised before being distributed to students, reducing the risk of bedbugs being introduced into school dormitories.
Company defends pricing
Mr Gyamfi also defended the pricing of the items supplied under the programme, saying the company offers packages at prices below what parents would otherwise pay for comparable good-quality items.
He said some products cost less than GH¢500, while more expensive merchandise falls within the GH¢500 to GH¢600 range.
He added that the package includes additional services, such as writing students’ names on their belongings, and argued that the total cost remains below prices he said had been quoted by some schools.
Beyond the items supplied to students, Mr Gyamfi said the arrangement includes the construction of warehouses for schools.
Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between PGL and the Ghana Education Service, he said the company is responsible for constructing the warehouses, while schools are expected to make land available for the facilities.
According to him, PGL plans to construct 100 new warehouses every academic year because the number of boarding schools nationwide makes it impossible to complete all the facilities at once.
He said the warehouses are expected to have two storeys and will include designated areas for storing students’ mattresses and other belongings.
“From the scratch to completion, Constructors Ghana is responsible. Every part of it is our responsibility,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi argued that the facilities would provide benefits to schools while also reducing the logistical burden on parents and students.
Dispute over stakeholder consultation
The controversy has also raised questions about whether parents’ representatives were adequately consulted before the MoU was signed.
Asked whether the National Council of Parents-Teachers Associations was engaged before the agreement was reached, Mr Gyamfi said the stakeholders considered appropriate by the Ghana Education Service were invited to the discussions.
He said representatives of the Council of Education and the Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) were among those engaged, with presentations made to them before and after the discussions.
However, he acknowledged that the National Council of Parents-Teachers Associations was not invited before the MoU was signed.
“We never heard about the National Council for PTA. They were not invited before the MoU was signed. If we had been given the opportunity to engage them, we would have done that,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi declined to say whether the failure to involve the parents’ council amounted to an oversight by the GES, saying he could not determine whether the decision was right or wrong.
He maintained, however, that parents were subsequently engaged during the implementation stage.
According to him, PGL organised engagements at schools where parents were briefed on how the programme would operate.
He also disputed the NCPTA’s assertion that the programme represented the position of Ghanaian parents, saying the parents the company had engaged had largely expressed support for the initiative.
“Let us not look at the article they have brought out and say this is the position of Ghanaian parents,” he said.
Legal action possible
The dispute has now taken a legal turn, with Mr Gyamfi saying the company’s legal team has been asked to examine publications and statements made about the programme.
He said PGL would provide assurances to the public that its activities were lawful and that the company had the necessary licence to operate.
“We want to give assurance to the general public that what we are doing is legal. It is legitimate. We have a licence to do what we are doing,” he said.
He further insisted that the GES had never directed parents to buy their prospectus items exclusively from PGL.
According to him, parents remain free to purchase the items elsewhere, while individual schools may choose to encourage parents to obtain the items through the programme because of the benefits attached to it.
As thousands of newly placed SHS students prepare to report to school, the competing positions have put the spotlight on how prospectus items should be supplied, who should bear responsibility for the process, and whether the proposed system offers genuine relief to parents or creates an unnecessary commercial burden.
