Free SHS: This political thing of wanting to please everybody will hang this country – Haruna Iddrisu

Haruna Iddrisu

Tamale Central Member of Parliament (MP), Haruna Iddrisu has proposed to government to take a critical look at the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, March 23, the former Minority Leader made the argument that if the policy is not reviewed, Ghana will suffer in the next decade.

He is of the view that government must ditch the idea of pleasing everybody at the detriment of the quality education of the Ghanaian people and focus on making Free SHS better.

“I’m concluding that Ghana needs to take advantage of UNESCO’s advice on secondary education. How accessible is it? What is the quality? Are we running a secondary education system that produces quantity and not quality?

“My controversial point, Ghana needs a means test to determine who can pay, who cannot pay, and who can pay for education. This political thing of wanting to please everybody at the detriment of quality will hang this country in the next decade if we don’t look back,” Haruna Iddrisu shared.

The Free SHS policy has in the last couple of years been criticised by not just the Minority in Parliament but several Civil Society Organisations.

Many believe that in the midst of the economic crisis that has faced the country in the past year, government must relook at the policy and allow parents who can afford to pay to ease the financial burden on the public purse.