Government’s much hyped free Senior High School programme will be boosted with a billion cedis budgetary allocation in 2018.
This is to guarantee the policy’s sustainability as questioned by the Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu.
Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia made the announcement at the Tamale Senior High School (Tamasco) where he addressed school heads and beneficiaries of the policy.
He emphasized that that government will sustain the free SHS policy at all cost.
“Next year we will spend about a billion cedis on free SHS because it is money worth spending and we will do it because it is our pride.”
According to him, it was a well thought through policy implemented as government’s flagship program to boost the nation’s human resource base.
“We believe the key to unlock our economic progress as a nation is education and that is why Nana Akufo-Addo has not reneged his campaign promise.”
“We know that it is possible and we are not going to be limited in our thinking by impossibility thoughts: our thoughts are thoughts of possibility. We know that when you start a policy such as this you cannot stop it has to be sustained and by the grace of God it will be sustained. We are not going to stop free senior high school education in Ghana. It is going to be sustained because it is our priority and once it is our priority we will call the budgetary resources for it,” he added.
Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia maintained that, “Government as a matter of policy has required that there is free senior high education in this country.”
“The key to economic growth is technical change and the key to technical change is human capital and the key to human capital accumulation is education. We cannot go wrong as a country therefore if we invest in education.”
He urged the beneficiaries to dispel saboteurs’ doubts about the policy’s reality for political expediency.
According to him, there is 94% of students intake across the country as compared to the 70% recorded in 2016.
Northern Regional Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools, Shaibu Adam Wilberforce praised government for implementing the policy.
He revealed that there is currently a massive admission of freshers in all senior high schools in the region.
Shaibu Adam Wilberforce stressed the need for effective collaboration between school heads and government.
Citi