The Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament, Dr. Clement Apaak, has reiterated the need for the government to admit the challenges confronting the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy and review it.
He said the policy is commendable, but it also faces significant challenges that can be resolved when reviewed.
He identified the issues of feeding, inadequate academic and residential space, and inadequate furniture as some of the challenges confronting the policy.
The MP for Builsa South explained that while the Free SHS policy is a good one, the challenges make it ineffective.
The call for a review of the policy, he said, is collective, with all the various stakeholders demanding a review of the policy.
He said we all agree that the policy is a good one, but it is bedevilled with implementation challenges, and these challenges are known and consistently talked about.
Parents, teachers, students, headmasters, and other stakeholders in the sector he stressed have complained about how these challenges are affecting policy implementation.
Dr. Apaak emphasized the necessity of reviewing the policy, which has been in place for seven years.
The MP believes the government’s refusal to review is unjust, as it is evident that a review is long overdue.
He said the same government, which is denying the need for a review, told the International Monetary Fund that it would review and rationalise the policy to make it better.
He said if the government can admit this to the IMF, then why are they refusing to review the policy?
He added that the duplicity on the part of the government is the reason why we are still facing these challenges.
He underscored the need for us to question the government, particularly the Education Minister, over why they remain adamant.
He said the government is impervious to the opinions of CSOs over the matter.
Every stakeholder in the educational space has called for a review, yet the government remains hypocritically adamant about reviewing the policy because, in their view, it is something damaging to do.
“The position of the government that the policy needs improvement and not review is flawed.”
Dr. Apaak assured Ghanaians that former President John Dramani Mahama would review the policy in his first 100 days after winning power.
He will do so by holding a national stakeholder dialogue to solicit views on the best approach to reviewing the policy, he added.
He pointed out that, along with the surge in enrollment, which is the trump card of the government, we are not doing what we need to do to accommodate the increasing number of enrolled students.
He also questioned why the private sector has been excluded from the implementation of the policy.
He said the government ought to do the
needful by being bold and honest to the people of this country, just as it has been honest to the IMF by admitting that it will review and rationalise the policy.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
