The Executive Director of Child Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah has sent a word of caution to the NPP-Government not to include the Free SHS Policy to the 16 Flagship Programmes that are up for review.
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced that all the 16 flagship programmes of the government including the free senior high school (SHS) programme will be reviewed.
He said the president wants the programmes to be protected and fully implemented to impact the lives of all Ghanaians.
However, it was alleged that the Minister denied the Free SHS Policy is part of the 16 flagship programmes to be reviewed by government.
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Speaking on Atinka TV‘s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, Mr Bright Appiah said whether the Free SHS Policy was part of the 16 flagship programmes or not, it should not be touched.
He was of the belief that the review could mean that government wants to strengthen the policy or give it a proper effect.
He said the review could also mean that the policy has brought loss to the government and it wants to change the phase of the Policy so that it can save them some money.
In any way, he said it should not be terminated since the policy was a good one and has helped a lot of Ghanaians.
Mr Bright Appiah observed that about 40 per cent Ghanaians who voted for the NPP-Government did so because of the Free SHS Policy, saying its termination may affect them.
He said whether the government mentioned Free SHS or not, Ghanaians must not sit down and wait till it is touched, be it termination or a review.
“If government has said it wants to review flagship programmes and it did not mention Free SHS, we should not sit idle and say let us watch which one government is coming to review. There are certain policies that have brought help to the people and so if you want to review social interventions, we should also raise the alarm to let you know that you cannot touch some of them or review it,” he said.
Mr Bright Appiah added that,”If you want to review most of your programmes, be mindful that you cannot touch such interventions like Free SHS. Whether they intend or not, we are just sending a word of caution there are certain aspects of the flagship programmes that cannot be touched.”
Ghana| Atinkonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori