Maintain free SHS — Child Rights
The Executive Director of Child Rights International, Bright Appiah, has asked the government to resist any external pressure to abandon any of its social intervention programmes, particularly, the free senior high school (SHS) programme.
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He said the country's social intervention programmes were designed to help vulnerable groups and that any attempt to abandon them would spell doom for the people.
Mr Appiah also called on the government to come clear on its position regarding key social intervention programmes in the wake of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme.
Mr Appiah said this during an interaction with journalists in Accra yesterday.
Policies
He explained that free SHS "is one of the policies that is given government legitimacy over its citizens".
"A country where our constitution is premised on welfare should do everything possible to protect its constitution and beneficiaries in the face of difficulties," he said.
More than 1.2 million children have benefitted since the rollout of the free SHS programme.
Mr Appiah said in spite of the country’s economic challenges, it would be suicidal for any government to implement any programme that would disadvantage the vulnerable groups in the society.
He explained that social intervention programmes such as LEAP and free SHS programmes had helped many vulnerable groups and as a result produced exceptional benefits.
Citing the free SHS programme, Mr Appiah said the enrolment rate of schoolchildren "is currently between 92 and 95 per cent which is amazing".
"On the school feeding programme, currently the programme is feeding over 3.8 million Ghanaian children," Mr Appiah added.
Concerning the LEAP, he said, the programme was one of the well-established social intervention programmes with more than 350,000 households beneficiaries.
“If the vehicle is giving us results, we need to strengthen it and channel more resources there," Mr Appiah said.
Open discussion
Commenting on the rollout of the various social intervention programmes, Mr Appiah said there must be an open discussion to ensure that any planned mechanism to implement it would
strengthen its efficiency.
“If the foundation of these programmes is shaken because of the IMF impact, the country needs to take a look at how best to protect the vulnerable groups so that we can position ourselves in these difficult times," he said.
Describing the free SHS as a unique concept and judging it from the benefits seen so far, Mr Appiah said Ghana must do everything within its capacity to protect and enhance its delivery.
“All the social intervention programmes are a fraction of our GDP. Let strengthen its delivery instead of reviewing it downwards," he said.
Child labour
Touching on child labour, Mr Appiah said in spite of the challenges faced, steps had been taken by the country to address those issues, adding that the issue was not as prevalent as it used to be.
According to CRI's report, Ghana’s child labour monitoring system has reduced child labour in the cocoa sector by 25 per cent.
Mr Appiah raised concerns regarding children involved in ‘galamsey’, indicating that a policy must be developed to address the issue else " once these children are exposed to some form of daily income, they will never stop".
"The lack of policy from the government on this issue is worrying and could spell doom if left unattended to," Mr Appiah added.
