Avoid bottlenecks in free SHS take-off - Two political parties demand

Two political parties have called on the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to avoid all bottlenecks associated with the smooth and effective implementation of the free Senior High School (SHS) programme to be rolled out in September 2017.

The United Progressive Party (UPP) and the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) insisted that the government of the NPP as a matter of priority must ensure that sums of money meant for the programme were available to the respective schools.

That, according to them, would help the scheme to take off smoothly and uninterrupted.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the founder and leader of the UPP, Mr Akwasi Adai Odike, and the founder and leader of the LPG, Mr Kofi Akpaloo, also called on all stakeholders to support the smooth implementation of the scheme.

The policy of providing free SHS to Ghanaian children, they pointed out, was a good and laudable one which must be supported by all to ensure its success.

Making good promise

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, making good his promise of free senior high school (SHS) education, has declared that, beginning September this year, public SHSs will be free.

“The government of Ghana will fund the cost of public senior high schools for all those who qualify for entry from the 2017/2018 academic year onwards,” he gave an assurance when he delivered a speech at the 60th Anniversary celebration and the Speech and Prize-Giving-Day of the Okuapeman School in Akropong in the Eastern Region on the theme: “One Vision, Many Lives”.

“By free SHS we mean that in addition to tuition which is already free, there will be no admission fee, no library fee, no science centre fee, no computer lab fee, no examination fee, and no utility fee; there will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free.” President Akufo-Addo declared.

The President said: “Free SHS will also cover agricultural, vocational and technical institutions at the high school level. I also want to state clearly again that we have a well-thought out plan that involves the building of new public senior high schools and cluster of public senior high schools.”

Funding for scheme

Looking at the amount of money to be pumped into the full implementation of the programme, Mr Akpaloo was of the view that the scheme must occupy the nation’s topmost priority.

For the programme to work without any interruption, he underscored the need for all politically related undertones to be removed.

“All political parties and their leaders in the country must support the policy and work in concert with the government for its effective implementation,” he stated.

According to Mr Akpaloo, there were certain things we did as a nation which were of less importance but emphasised that premium must rather be placed on the implementation of the free SHS saying, “the money is in the country and we can sustain the programme”.

Expansion of scheme

On the expansion of the programme, Mr Odike said efforts must be made to consider the private SHSs to also benefit from the scheme.

He argued that at the junior high school (JHS) level, it was mostly students from public or government schools who gained admission to the private SHSs.

He said many a time, students from private JHSs rather gained admission into the prestigious public or government SHSs at the expense of those students who attended the public schools.

“We must avoid helping those parents of students who can afford paying fees at the expense of those who cannot,” he stated.