The National Organizer of the opposition National Democratic congress, Kofi Adams is pessimistic about the commencement of the free SHS policy in September.
According to him, there is no indication that anything good could come out from this policy barely 10 days to the start of the program.
”September is just around the corner, yet here we are in a situation where district directors and heads of institutions have no idea what government’s position on this policy which will cover few students is and when funds will be released to them”, he alleged.
The former senior high school teacher explained that school authorities are mostly dependent on the first term payments of first year students because subsequent payments after enrollment do not flow as expected.
”If care is not taken, the students will be served unacceptable meals which might compel parents to either force their wards to go to school from home or send kenkey to their children at the various senior high schools.”
This, he claimed might happen because government has failed to release or say anything about funds to the various senior high schools in that regard.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced that beginning September this year, all Ghanaian students who will be admitted into the various public senior high schools (SHS) will not pay any fees.
He said the government would roll out the comprehensive Free SHS Education Policy in the next academic year to ease the cost burden of high school education in the country.
“The government will fund the cost of public senior high school education for all those who qualify for entry from the 2017/2018 academic year onwards.”
“By Free SHS, we mean that in addition to tuition, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no science resource centre fees, no computer lab fees, no examination fees, and no utility fees,” he said.
Source: otecfmghana.com
