The Executive Director of the Ghana Council of Private Schools, Mr Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah has called on the Government to collaborate with private schools over infrastructure with respect to the review of Free SHS Policy.
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 Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah who admitted the Free SHS Programme was good noticed that one of the challenges with its implementation was inadequate infrastructure.
Meanwhile, he said most of the private schools have adequate infrastructure which are lying idle.
He urged Government to collaborate with private schools in the review of the free SHS so that it can use the infrastructure of the private schools in order to clear issues of inadequate infrastructure.
“Before the introduction of the Free SHS, there were 351 private schools and 721 government schools and that is what was accommodating the students until the Free SHS was introduced. All those infrastructure of the private schools are lying idle and so if the government is reviewing the Free SHS, it can collaborate with the Private schools and use their infrastructure instead of going to build new ones,” he said.
Secondly, Mr Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah noticed that it is sometimes difficult if government wants to bear the entire cost of the free SHS, considering accommodation, feeding, books and others.
He recommended that government cuts an amount of money for free SHS scholarship, explaining that government can say it is giving 70 per cent scholarship to all students to serve as an initial school fees so that when they enter, their parents can also pay the remaining 30 per cent.
“When it happens like that, it will make everyone contribute to the progress of education in Ghana. But if the government wants to bear the cost of everything including feeding and books, it is good though but when you look at the expenses, Ghana does not have the strength to do that now,” he said.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
