Nana Addo's free SHS not sustainable - Okudzeto Ablakwa

The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has stated that the implementation of the free Senior High School (SHS) policy by the government is not sustainable.

According to him, majority of the students especially in second and third years from poor homes will dropout if their parents are not able to fund their education.

He has, however, predicted a high rate of school dropout.

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"Some rich parents whose children are beneficiaries can even pay the fees of 100 poor children yet they wards are also in school free," he said.

The free SHS programme will start with first year students in all public SHSs and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions across the country.

The free SHS policy implies the absorption of all approved fees currently charged to students in public SHS and TVET Institutions.

A deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei-Asare has said the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has received 50% of funds of the free SHS policy.

She said "We have a list of all the 647 schools and all their account numbers…Latest by close of day [Friday] all the schools will be credited with the amounts that they need to roll out the policy."

Mrs Abena Osei-Asare, said GH¢280 million out of the GH¢486 million required for the programme had been released.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa speaking on the implementation on Accra-based Adom FM said the government did not put in place stable funding to keep the policy running.

"What is clear to me is that government is going to struggle to find the money. For an adequate and proper implementation of Free SHS, you would need GH¢600 million a term. They should rather target the poor students with the GH¢400 million and not the rich. I think it’s not sustainable, especially under the current circumstances," he stressed.