Free SHS policy won’t be cancelled - Education Minister designate maintains

The Minister of Education designate, Haruna Iddrisu, has stated categorically that President John Dramani Mahama has no intention of cancelling the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy introduced by the previous administration but will rather expand it to cover private schools. 

Allaying the fears of sceptics when he appeared before the 11-member Appointments Committee of Parliament yesterday, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South indicated that the President would hold a national stakeholder forum to bring together experts in the sector, teachers, parents, students and donor partners to review the Free SHS policy and find ways to make it more sustainable, reliable and adequately funded.

“President Mahama has no option to cancel the Free SHS as he will expand it to private schools,” he said.

He said President Mahama would want to give true meaning to Articles 25 and 38 which spelt out the objectives of our educational policies.

“It is a matter of debate between free universal education absorbing all the costs and progressively free starting with infrastructure. But the President will undertake a comprehensive review to make it sustainable,” he said.

Free first-year tertiary education

The nominee said the government would provide GH¢375 million to fund the free first-year tertiary education policy as promised by President Mahama during his campaign for the 2024 general election.

Mr Iddrisu said the funds would ensure a refund of fees already paid by freshers who pursued normal programmes.

“The amount was based on statistics available concerning the enrolment of first-year tertiary students,” he said. 

“The beauty of this is that even parents of children who are willing to pay can do so under this principle introduced by the National Democratic Congress (NDC),” he added.

The statement was in response to a question posed by the former Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, who sought to know how the government would achieve its manifesto commitments regarding tertiary education.

Mr Iddrisu said under the governing NDC, the real goal of education was to contribute meaningfully to the country’s national sustainable development efforts for which reason the focus of education at the tertiary level would be on “access, quality and relevance”.

“President Mahama intends to increase investment into the education sector to respond to the infrastructure deficits beginning from pre-school to tertiary. “Enormous financial investment will be made to continue with major initiatives that were done,” he said. 

Prioritising employability

The nominee also said the current government would prioritise the employability of the youth by expanding access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, as well as technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

In that vein, he assured the public that President Mahama would complete all meaningful TVET projects initiated by the previous government and build model STEM schools across the country.

Equally, he said the government would review the existing curricula at the various levels of education to meet the aspirations of the nation. 

North-South divide

Acknowledging the gap between the northern and southern parts of the country regarding education, with children in the north being disproportionately affected, Mr Iddrisu pledged to work with stakeholders to bridge such gap.

“As a native of the northern part of the country, I pledge to work with the appropriate authorities and institutions to bridge the gap and pay attention to the needs of schools in the north,” he said.