Sustain Free SHS policy - Traditional leader urges successive governments
A traditional leader has urged successive governments to continue with the Free Senior High School (SHS) education policy introduced by the current government.
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That, he said, was to enable the policy to continue to benefit the needy and poor students who might be forced to drop out of school if it was curtailed.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Tuesday, the Head of the Nii Arde Nkpa family of Kokrobite, Langma and Tuba, Mr Daniel Nii Arde Tagoe, said the introduction of the Free SHS policy had paved the way for many needy and poor students to be enrolled in schools.
He said hitherto, parents would troop to his home and to other traditional and political leaders begging for money to pay for their children’s school fees.
He noted that with the inception of the Free SHS, he had not received any parents requesting money to pay their children’s school fees.
Sustaining Free SHS
Nii Arde dismissed the suggestion in some quarters that Ghana did not have the financial muscle to continue to fund the Free SHS.
He said the country was blessed with mineral resources, including gold and oil, which could generate the needed revenue to fund the policy.
He said with prudent management of revenue from mineral resources and warding off corruption and misappropriation of public funds, the free education policy would not witness any challenges.
Constructive criticisms
Nii Arde lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for fulfilling his campaign promise of introducing the Free SHS policy within his first year in office.
He said the policy would be an important legacy for President Akufo-Addo considering the reliefs it had brought to parents and students.
Nii Arde condemned destructive criticisms of the policy and called for constructive criticisms to improve it.
He indicated that the policy was for the benefit of the whole nation, hence the need to discard any tendencies to politicise its implementation.
Allowances for chiefs
Nii Arde rejected the recent suggestion for the government to give allowances to chiefs, and indicated that such a move would deepen rivalry among disputing chiefs in the country.
Besides, he said, such allowances would make it difficult for many chiefs to speak against actions and decisions of the government.
Nii Arde, therefore, suggested that the government should rather channel all the money being considered as allowances for chiefs to the Free SHS education policy.