Bright Appiah, Executive Director of Child Rights International, stated that parents are already bearing some of the cost of their children’s access to secondary education through the free senior school policy.
He contended that allowing parents to bear the cost of feeding or any other policy-related costs was not the best option.
Speaking on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, he explained that, due to the nature of the policy, it is not entirely a universal social policy that will benefit every Ghanaian, and the government has covered the costs; thus, once you deviate from its implementation structure, it ceases to be in the nature it was originally designed for.
‘’Every child that has had the opportunity to go to secondary school, the cost that the parents bear for them to get entry to enjoy the free SHS is between Ghc2,000 and Ghc5,000. So clearly there is participation of the parents in that process. If there is anything we want to do, then it should be related to the management of the program to see how best we can cut costs to fit the program properly,’’ he said.
To him the policy was introduced to eliminate the financial burden that prevented qualified candidates from getting access to secondary education.
He said the policy was also introduced to promote inclusiveness, and so if attempts are made to shift costs to parents, it would undermine this core objective.
He stated, “The Ghanaian constitution is very clear on the need to prioritise the welfare of children, and the principle of welfare governs the way and manner in which we should do our things, so the claim that free SHS is a burden on the government is a mirage. Officially, we need the state to come and tell us that it cannot care for Ghanaian children. The state has a stake in children’s welfare, and their rights to health and education are non-negotiable; therefore, if the state says it cannot discharge this duty, it is irresponsible”.
He advised Ghanaians to stop using their imaginations in concluding that the free SHS is a burden on the government when no official communications have been released about it.
’I have never heard any president saying that the cost of the free SHS is so heavy on the state that it cannot finance it. So until that communication is released, I don’t think we should use our imagination in saying that the cost to free SHS is too expensive for the state. I don’t think that is the right thing to do.
The most important thing we should worry about is how best we can run the policy effectively. Research has proven that if we are able to manage the free SHS properly, we can cut down the cost by 30%. So those are the areas we should focus on, and once we are able to do that, we can manage it efficiently,’’ he concluded.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
