Call for Free SHS Review, in the right direction-Madina MP
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| Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu, MP for Madina |
The Member of Parliament for the Madina constituency, Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu has said that the only way government’s flagship Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy could remain meaningful is a holistic review of the policy.
According the legislature, education must be given a holistic attention from basic school to the tertiary level.
He lauded that the Free SHS policy is bedevilled with challenges because the government failed to employ strategic planning with the implementation of the policy.
He further stated that the government is facing challenges because of the rash in implementing the policy against all advice.
“This is the time that we must begin to disaggregate the policy and then look at those who have, if people have what it takes to take care of their children why pay for them when they can pay for it” Sosu stated.
The FSHS policy is currently ineffective and the government must know this. If government don’t recognise this fact, then the policy cannot have the necessary improvement needed for it to get better.
The MP said one of the major points of criticism of the Free SHS policy has been the inadequate infrastructure.
It remains the greatest challenge that the Free SHS policy has faced since its introduction. This was foreseen by the NDC government led by President John Dramani Mahama that the higher intakes would demand more infrastructure to meet the demands of classroom and dormitory space.
“You have children not having adequate infrastructure, adequate classrooms and adequate boarding facilities and for that reason we have to the tracking system, and the overall effect is that we are not developing critical minds that are going through the full rigorous of training to contribute to national development in the future” Sosu hinted.
Also the GSFP policy, meant to provide nutritious meal each school day has encountered a lot of shortfalls. Since its inception, the GSFP has been bedeviled with numerous challenges including poor sanitation, low quality of food served, delays in paying caterers and lack of transparency.
Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu alleged that Government only took that policy for political reasons and many Ghanaians bought into the idea without critically assessing whether the policy would help Ghana or not but the result is clear. So Government must take steps to bring onboard all stakeholders to review the free SHS policy.
Touching on Basic schools, Lawyer Sosu challenged the deputy minister of education, Rev, John Ntim Fordjour to go on a nation wide tour to all basic schools in Ghana to verify if they have textbooks as been claimed that textbooks had been supplied to all public basic schools in the country, under the One-Child-One-Textbook Policy of the Government.
“As a minister of state you should be taking responsibility of the inadequate facilities in our schools and rather reassure our schools that you will take steps to ensure that they get this textbooks” he said.
He lamented that the one daunting challenge that confronts Ghana’s education system is the lack of adequately suitable classrooms for all children to sit and learn.
The challenge has led to many school managers to improvise with trees under which children sit to receive teaching and learning.
This improvisation is referred to as “schools under trees”, and it is prevalent in some parts of the country.
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