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“An investment in education pays the best”-Benjamin Franklin
Education is said to be the key to success but some parents with financial burdens serving to be a limiting force are unable to allow their wards to get hold of the privilege of being educated.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, was moved with the situation of his citizens and thought to come out with a FREE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL policy to help release some burdens of parents.
On Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at the West Africa Senior High School, His Excellency Akufo-Addo launched the free senior high school education policy ushering the nation into an era where the age old creed of “education as a right not a privilege” assumes its true meaning.
The question is; are the plans for the implementation of this policy secured to ensure it sustainability?
Ghana as a developing country needs a good educational system to improve upon its developmental status. However, the educational level of the country if given maximum attention could serve as one major reason for the “Ghana beyond Aid” vision to become a reality.
Candidates who have completed the Junior High level of education as they wait for their results are all aiming to get placement into the Senior High institution of their choice which is in the same case as that of Senior High School graduates.
What are the measures put in place for the secondary and tertiary institutions to be able to admit enough candidates?
As a result of the implementation of the Free SHS policy, lot of candidates will wish to gain admission so as to continue with their studies. But then, some schools still have inadequate facilities such as science and computer labs, classrooms, educational devices etc. to be able to accommodate the rising number of student that will be enrolled into their institution. Hence, the cost of running the Free SHS program is high and has its own challenges.
The Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza in an interview rebuked the NPP government for failing to consult experts and stakeholders within the educational sector before implementing the free senior high school policy.
He further added, “When you want to do something like a fundamental change to education and health, you need to subject this to some understanding of the people who matter”.
“When we were trying to change from the middle school to JSS, there were committees’ setup to review all these things, but for the first time, a government came and said Free SHS, and without any consultation with anybody, they sat at the NPP headquarters, decided Free SHS and came and tried to implement it,”.
Mr. Kwame Agbodza also claimed that, the NPP has nothing to lose if they admit that they erred in planning and executing the programme, and go back to the drawing board to ensure that the programme is well planned and executed.
He then suggested,“There is nothing wrong if you are a politician and you tell the truth, okay? We promised this, however starting, we think going forward it will not work. We are calling on stakeholders; let’s sit down, what is the best way to take this forward?”.
In his view, Free SHS should be given as scholarship to individuals who cannot actually afford to pay for tuition.
Meanwhile the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has called for adequate provision for infrastructure at various Universities to cater for students of the Free SHS program.
Government in its planning of free SHS made no provision for the beneficiaries in the tertiary institutions.
Earlier this year, government stated that an amount of GH₵453 million of Ghana’s oil revenue will be used to fund the Free SHS program.
MID-YEAR BUDGET REVIEW ON EDUCATIONAL SECTOR
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in his mid-year budget review in Parliament on Thursday July 19 2018, mentioned that the implementation of the free SHS program has provided over 90,000 teenagers access to Senior High School education.
He noted that the policy initiative has helped parents save significant sum of monies to cater for other responsibilities other than taking care of school related expenditure for their wards in day and boarding schools.
The Finance Minister also revealed, “Sufficient allocation has been made in 2018 to cover the first term of the 2018/2019 academic year” for the free senior high school policy.
He said government has put in place some stop gap measures to expand access to Senior High Schools and also address the challenges that come with the implementation of the Free SHS program.
“In order to address the initial challenges identified with the implementation of the programme, 96,413 mono desks, 32,171 dining hall furniture, 3,033 tables and chairs for teachers, 12,953 bunk beds, 4,335 student mattresses, and 5,135 computer laboratory chairs have been supplied to various Senior High Schools,” he added.
Is this policy just a four years plan or it will continue when there is a change in government?
It has become a norm in the country as leaders when voted in power tend to focus on executing their own policy leaving that of the gone government uncompleted.
In most cases, the new government finds excuses to abandon the projects started by the previous government in order to begin with new projects promised during their campaigns. This in a long run will result in many abandoned national projects including health and educational facilities.
The implementation of the Free SHS program is a good one and all Ghanaians hail to it. But then, the President is entreated to lay down a very strong foundation to enhance the effective implementation of the policy.
Is the policy secured to be continued or it will someday be broken?
By: Marcia Yeboah/pinkfmonlinegh.com
