Review Free SHS policy now – Minority in Parliament charges government
Minority Members on the Education Committee in Ghana’s legislature are demanding an immediate review of the Free Senior High School Policy.
They are of the view that it’s about time the government must engage stakeholders in the education sector to arrive at better ways to run the programme which will lessen the cost burden on the country.
Their stance follows a series of complaints by some heads of secondary schools concerning limited resources to run the operations of the institutions.
Ranking Member on the Education Committee, Peter Nortsu Kotoe, said the government needs to come up with measures to sustain the policy.
“Our call is that let’s sit down with all stakeholders and review the programme. We are not saying abandon it. Let’s review it and see how best we can sustain it.
“And sustaining it is very, very important so how do we cut costs so that we will be able to sustain it and everybody who qualifies to be in senior high school can have access to free senior high school education,” he added.
On Wednesday, May 11, 2022, the Builsa South MP, Dr Clement Apaak, also raised concerns about the Free SHS policy.
“Since the introduction of the Free Senior High School policy, those of us in the sector have noticed visibly the lack of attention that, hitherto, was being paid to basic education,” he said while adding that “we ought to be doing more to ensure that the basic sector of our educational system is robust and fit for purpose.”
