Economist and Entrepreneur Joins Calls For Review of Free SHS Policy

An economist and entrepreneur, Alex Agbesi Dzata-Aborge, has joined calls on President Akufo-Addo government to consider a review of its flagship programme, the Free Senior High School policy, as a matter of urgency.

Mr. Dzata-Aborge, who is a member of the Association of Certified Chartered Economist (ACCE), believes that, the current economic challenges have given the government a perfect opportunity to review educational policy, without sacrificing its quality.

Speaking in an interview with The Anchor, the economist argued that it would not be loss for the government if they do a review of the programme, by getting parents involved with some payments, given the present economic conditions.

According to him, a lot of parents are ready and willing to support the policy, should the need be.

He noted that, his call is not for the cancelation of the Free SHS, because many of the poor have benefited and still benefitting. He stressed that, an educated population is better than an uneducated one, hence his reason for supporting the pro-poor policy.

However, his issue against the policy has to do with the financing. He explained that, the government has financed it for long, and the country have reached a stage where our resources are not enough to continue.

Therefore, “it is about time we looked at areas where we can cut spending without hurting the quality of Free Senior High School,” he advised.

He indicated that, “If we have to ask parents to pay, let’s do so. If we have to make tuition free and let parents and guardians pay for boarding or other things, let’s do so. I believe Ghanaians will understand it if government engages stakeholders and lets them know that the world economic crisis is not permitting us to continue the same way, so let’s review”.

“Currently, parents and guardians have to send food and provisions on daily or weekly basis to their wards to help them survive on campus due to the shortage of food supplies. So, the pending review must give back the power and authority to school managements to buy their food supplies to feed their hungry students,” Mr. Dzata-Aborge proposed.

He added that, the days of handling food supplies to families and cronies of the Government should be a thing of the past, to prevent future rioting amongst students as in the recent cases of Bawku and Bolgatanga Technical Institutes, since a hungry man, is an angry man.

He suggested that, the review should be the avenue to also rope in the collapsing private secondary school sub-sector. Just like the health sector, he said a standardized criteria should be made available to be met by the ailing private second cycle schools.

In so doing, he said government can then absorb part of the student’s bills whiles parents and guardians take care of the rest to help salvage the investment of the owners of these s schools and which in a way, also give jobs to the masses.

“Otherwise, if we continue to push it, the system may break and we shall all suffer. I am not a prophet of doom or seeking the cancellation of the Free SHS, but government should take a look at it again and see where they can ask parents to support. Many are willing to support in order to make the programme sustainable,” he concluded.

Source: Anchorghana.com