Let’s limit Free SHS to students from public schools – NPP MP suggests as government struggles

New Patriotic Party (NPP)Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru Kennedy Nyarko Osei has argued that the Government flagship policy, the Free Senior High School (SHS), should be limited to pupils who attend public basic schools if the whole programme cannot be suspended because of the relief it brings to the poor in the country.

For him, limiting the programme to only pupils who complete their studies from public schools will allow the well-to-do to cater for the SHS education of their children and wards.

“If we cannot suspend the implementation of FSHS because of the possible impacts it will have on the poorest families then I will suggest we limit it to only those that attend public elementary schools. This I am sure will offer the rich and the middle-income families to take full responsibility for their ward’s education,” he argued on social media.

His suggestion comes at a time Government is struggling to foot the ballooning bill for the programme as it faces major fiscal challenges.

Free SHS, which caters for all expenses of students in SHS, has become a major expenditure of the Government. The programme had been flagged as unsustainable by some think tanks who had argued that implementing wholesale was likely to unnecessarily burden the Government. Notwithstanding, the programme was implemented without any form of targeting in 2017.

But following recent revenue difficulties by the Government, some leading members of the government including Prof Stephen Adei has called on Government to review the programme.