I will not cancel Free SHS – Prez Akufo-Addo iterates stance on policy
President Akufo-Addo has iterated his decision not to cancel the Free Senior High School policy despite the country’s current economic crisis.
Speaking at the 10th anniversary grand durbar of the University of Health and Allied Sciences in the Volta Regional capital of Ho, the President noted that the ravaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine invasion on the world economy would not deter the government from providing free quality education at the basic and secondary school levels.
He remarked that the government has identified education as an “equalizer of opportunities” hence would continue to channel resources into the sector to ensure the effective training of the Ghanaian child.
“I want each of them [children] to look in the mirror every morning and know they can achieve anything they dream of when they complete tertiary”, he said.
President Akufo-Addo said he aims at ensuring that all Ghanaian children have equal access to quality education, to imbibe in them the requisite qualities to enable them fit into the global village.
The remarks by the President, is in view of calls for the cancelation of the Free SHS given its drain on public finances coupled with the poor implementation of the policy.
Additionally, it is also in view of Ghana’s recent return to the IMF, where it is believed that the Fund as part of some conditionalities to be given to government, will demand for the cancelation of the social policy.
But according to the Country Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dr Albert Touna Mama, the Fund will not be cancelling the Free SHS along with other social policies of the government.
According to him, Fund-related programmes for troubled economies usually target at preserving government-supported social programmes, hence protecting the poor and vulnerable in the society.
Making the disclosure in an interview a day after the Fund completed its mission to Ghana on Citi FM and monitored by norvanreports, Dr Touna Mama, averred the Free SHS is a good social policy and the IMF will not think about cancelling it.
He, however, noted that the IMF will help government take a relook at the policy to make it more sustainable and efficient given its drain on the country’s finances.
“I don’t see why the Free SHS should be cancelled, its a good policy, and so the debate is not to cancel it, but how to make it more sustainable and efficient,” he stated.
