The Heads of Private Second Cycle Schools (CHOPSS) have congratulated President John Dramani Mahama for his victory in the 2024 general elections.
CHOPSS expressed optimism that the President will soon roll out measures that will help address the challenges confronting the free Senior High School policy.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) for CHOPSS Nepthali Kyei Baafour said out of the candidates that contested the elections, it was only President Mahama who engaged them extensively and examined their suggestions for addressing the challenges of the free SHS and promised to work in collaboration with them in dealing with the failures of the policy.
He said they wish the President well and are praying he will settle, appoint his education minister, and then they will expect that pledge to factor them into the policy that will be implemented.
‘’Before the 2024 elections, we made attempts to engage with the parties. We submitted our suggestions to them and asked that they give us an opportunity to admit students under the policy because we have all the logistics needed for teaching and learning, and in most cases we had better ones compared to the public schools. It was only President Mahama who actually commended us and saw the usefulness of our suggestions and promised to work with us in addressing the challenges of the free SHS. We will congratulate him on his election and are happy he won because we are optimistic he will deliver on his promises. We will give him time to settle and appoint his minister, and then we will look forward to this promise being delivered,’’ he noted.
He argued that it was unfortunate that private schools were excluded from the free SHS policy, noting that even in the health sector, accredited private health facilities work to provide quality healthcare throughout the country. Public schools alone cannot provide the necessary quality training for our students. Private schools have the capacity. We are overjoyed that the candidate who promised to work with us won the election because we believe he will soon deliver on his promises”.
During the 2024 campaign, President John Dramani Mahama promised to include private secondary schools in the free senior high school program if his party won the December election.
He stated that since many private schools have the necessary infrastructure and human resources to support the program, it was only natural to include them.
Mr Mahama also assured the association of private schools that an NDC government would prioritise education by seeking their inputs to review the entire education structure from primary to tertiary level to ensure better outcomes.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
