Review Free SHS Policy to save a substantial money for the country — Eduwatch to Govt
Review Free SHS Policy to save a substantial money for the country — Eduwatch to Govt
Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), an Educational Think Tank has expressed an urgent need for the government to review the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy to save the country a substantial amount of money.
The Executive Director of the Education Think Tank, Kofi Asare made the call after the Internal Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Resident Representative to Ghana, Dr Albert Touna-Mama assured that the Free SHS policy would not be affected by the IMF which Ghana is currently signing to.
Speaking in an interview with the media, Mr Asare said government could adopt a screening approach in identifying rich and poor parents to screen out the system where the rich and the poor students equally enjoy the free SHS policy.
“My expectation is that at the end of the IMF process, the government of Ghana should agree that we adopt a means testing approach where we are able to identify parents who can pay their fees and parents who cannot pay their fees so that those who can pay will be allowed to pay then we will save money,” he explained.
Mr Asare believed that government could invest the funds saved from the reviewing to improve infrastructure at the basic level.
He urged the government to make the free SHS sustainable by scrapping out some expenses which could be well catered off by some parents.
Meanwhile, Dr Touna-Mama, the IMF Resident acknowledged concerns about the efficiency of the policy and said there was the need to have conversations about how to make the free SHS more sustainable.
Aside from infrastructure challenges over the course of its implementation, the Free SHS policy has struggled with feeding.
High schools were currently consenting to a shortage of food items due to the funding and supply challenges.
The issue has forced some schools to shut down since managements have been struggling to feed the students.
Source: www.spotonnews.net
