Our children need food in SHS

There is no debate as to whether the free senior high school (SHS) policy has been good or not since its full rollout in 2017.

Indeed, free SHS was a campaign tool for the previous NPP government in 2012 and it rode on its back into office in 2017.

It should, however, be on record that before the introduction of the Free SHS in 2017 by the immediate past government, President John Dramani Mahama’s first administration had started the progressively free senior high education in the 2015/16 academic year with about 365,000 day students as beneficiaries of the policy.

For many parents in the rural areas and even in the urban areas, free SHS is a saviour and has come to stay.

However, since its full rollout in 2017, there have been dissenting voices regarding its implementation and the cost involved.

For some well-meaning Ghanaians, including the former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, a totally free SHS is not the way to go, where every child must enjoy the policy.

People in this category believe that some level of commitment from parents, especially those who can afford it, is necessary to ensure that it does not crumble the economy.

Surely, those were laudable suggestions, but it was clear that since it was a political tool, agreeing to such a suggestion would be politically suicidal so, though the consequence seemed dire from its onset, the then government insisted on shouldering all the costs.

The struggle for survival of the policy became imminent in its seventh and eighth years, especially with regard to feeding to the extent that before the start of the 2024/25 academic year, the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) petitioned the Ghana Education Service (GES) to postpone reopening the schools until government sorted out the feeding challenges.

Unfortunately, and as has always been the case, this petition was dismissed and the GES insisted that all was well, even though some CHASS members made it clear that there was no food in their stores to feed the students.

Shortly after the reopening in January 2025, CHASS asked parents to make arrangements to feed their children, since there was not enough food in the schools.

This led to the call by the National Council for the Parent-Teacher Associations last week for the GES to close down all SHSs until the issue of feeding and other pressing matters were addressed.

According to the council, nothing was working in the schools. It said that all the assurances from the previous government that it would provide funds for feeding and all others were just lip service.

During the run-up to the 2024 general election, free SHS was a major campaign tool, with the NPP promising consolidation, while the NDC gave a firm assurance that it would not cancel it, but would enhance and make it work better.

The Daily Graphic is comforted by the fact that the current government has made several pronouncements on making the free SHS work better and more efficiently.

At the 92nd Annual Jalsa (Convention) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission at Pomadze in the Central Region last week, President Mahama gave an assurance that his government would sustain and enhance the free SHS policy.

We believe that, truly, a review of the policy by stakeholders is necessary to identify what works and what does not work, so that they can together agree on the way forward to make the policy more workable and sustainable.

The Daily Graphic believes that this is not the time for a blame game, but an honest assessment to proffer solutions devoid of politicisation of the issues for the advancement of education in the country.

So, while the conversation is ongoing, there is an urgent need to find food immediately to feed the children in the schools, while a lasting solution is sought.

We must ensure that this does not affect the academic calendar and ultimately affect the final-year students, who are already constrained for time to prepare for their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

A stitch in time saves nine!