The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah, has called for a stakeholder engagement to discuss how parents can contribute to the free senior high school (SHS) programme.
In an interview in Accra, Mr Musah explained the need for parents' input towards the effective implementation of the programme, especially with prevailing challenges in the system. He also noted that the government subvention for free SHS has been in arrears for over three years now, which poses a significant problem to the programme's sustainability.
Mr Musah described the free SHS policy as a “very good” and “excellent” policy that everyone embraces, but he admitted that there were challenges with the policy's implementation and that the cash flow challenges were having a ripple effect at the basic education level.
He believes that with any major intervention or project, there is a need to take stock and review ways to make the project better. He called on the government to seek input from parents, old students and other stakeholders, who are ready to help make the policy more successful.
Mr Musah noted that inviting these stakeholders to contribute their input would be significant to the success of the programme.
According to him, building the country requires all hands to be on deck, and therefore there is a need for the government to allow parents to support the system.
Mr Musah also said the call for a review of the policy was in line with the government's vision as contained in its 2023 Budget Statement to Parliament.
Mr Musah further claimed that the cost of some flagship programmes of the government ranged between GH¢4 billion and GH¢6 billion and, therefore, reviewing them would result in some savings to the government.
He suggested that the government should review and suspend some of these programmes, as almost every programme of the government was in arrears due to the lack of funds.
Mr Musah cited the National Health Insurance Scheme and Ghana Educational Trust Fund as some of the organizations that were being overstretched.
Thanks for reading and supporting The Ghanaian Standard. Your comments on this story are welcome, kindly share them in comments section below.
Send us your press releases and news stories at contact@ghstandard.com, or via WhatsApp on +233550919202.