Free SHS Policy, Bogobiris of Navrongo Take on Matters arising for the way forward

Bogobiri connotes a warrior with a fighting spirit. Hence, this take in Free SHS is to fight for the sustenance (maintenance) of the current policy on Free Senior High School (Free SHS or FHS)/Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT), which is a prototype (first of its kind) Secondary/Technical education system designed with the essence to provide equity Secondary School education otherwise Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT) to kids in Ghana as way of preparing the Youth of the Nation for the future of both the youth and the Nation.

The current Free SHS required the Government to bear everything from admission to tuition (ID Card, SRC dues, text books, stationery items, science center, Examination fees, utility bills, meals) in order to remove the burden on parents and guardians. Hence, the implication of the policy is to allow access to all kids who opted for either SHS or Technical education and Vocational Training (TEVT) that to say, access for SHS and TEVT must be made equitable.

It must be understood that this concept of Free SHS is both God send and Constitutional Injunction to be explained later, so, the need for appreciation of these situations and offering constructive criticisms for its success is very important, that is if we really understand or agree that Education is the life process through the continuous development and reconstruction of experiences.

Furthermore, education involves the capacity of all abilities which will enable a human or an individual to control environment, adjust himself or herself in that environment and fulfill his or her responsibilities and possibilities. So, Education is a means for a person to know his rights and duties. It thus gives one confidence, helps in decision making, hence it give a power to change the way of thinking of a human and thus makes one independent and wise. Consequently, Education is a means to change the trajectory of a human generation by navigating or lifting the generation from zero level to one or higher level. Hence, need for free Secondary education and free Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT) cannot be overstated.

We need to understand that education has a very bigger role in capacity building or building capacity, social development of a human, hence, education helps in the decision making of a human, consequently, a decision that may affect the interest of and for the Nation. So, the Nation Ghana must therefore ensure effective education for all kids without dragging her feet on the matter due to challenges or the likely associated risks.

With Positive thinking or Mindset thus with Can Do Spirit or Attitude the challenges or the associated risks of the Free SHS can be solved or brought to the barest minimum .by the State due to the numerous resources as provided by God for public good without discrimination as required by the Constitution.

So the problem of Ghana is not lack of resources but lack of good and strong Leadership. So the Free is Possible, if our leaders rise to the occasion and the citizens especially the Senior citizens live up to expectation by offering good advice in order to ensure the future of our grandchildren and not sink into the gutters and putting sand in the garri. .

t must also be noted that Biblically, the goal of education is to inculcate positive thinking and behaviour that aligns with the character of God because ‘’ God created man in his own image’, as stipulated in Genesis 1:27. The Bible also tells that God appoints a Leader for a Nation for his divine purpose as in Roman 13:1, hence we need to elect a Leader who will ensure the sustainability of the Free SHS.

God or Allah is great, so by God design, two Northern brothers are the real Presidential hopefuls for the Presidency of Ghana effective 07 January 2025. Thanks to God, since both of them know very well the need for or the importance of free education for all kids at the cost of the State because their rich parents who could afford the payment of the fees for the secondary education for them (their wards), made them to enjoy free secondary education by either removing a ward from a Secondary School in the South to one in the North to save cost.

By these actions, the affected parents denied their wards (these two Presidential Hopefuls) the chance to attend very good Secondary Schools or prestige schools in the Southern Ghana like Achimota School, notwithstanding that they were capable of bearing the cost a School in the South with good Teachers et or capable of opting to pay the fees of their wards in the Schools in the North.

Thanks to Allah, the value is the same, whoever is going to be elected as the President of Ghana in December 2024 will be a Northerner. Hence, the Second Northern Battle is being created by God after the First Northern Battle as it was reported in the Second Republic of Ghana as result of the First bye election in Ghana.

For historical records, pardon me to add that this first Northern Battle involved a nonentity, namely a very young Bolga Teacher by name Miss CK Tedam (Catherine Katumi) against Senior Lawyer Logutirah both battled for the Chiana Paga bye election in 1970 to elect the MP for the area when CK Tedam (Clement) was disqualified and removed from Parliament. The battle was won by the younger one, Catherine. Hmm, it is Possible that history may repeat itself.

The above assertions on education tell that the essence of education is not only a means for doing jobs, making of money and or speaking English grammar but a tool for transformation of one generation to the next generation and making the future generation better. So, the Free SHS is to ensure every student or kid is provided with the resources needed to acquire the basic work skills of reading, writing, and basic arithmetic

It is therefore envisaged that it is for the very good importance of education as enumerated above that made the Almighty God to nominate a leader in the person of President Nana Addo to see education as God given right as in Proverb 18:15 and or Proverb 16:16 and as a Constitutional requirement as in Article 25 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. This Article guarantees every Ghanaian a basic right to ‘Equal educational opportunities and facilities’.

So, the President of Ghana is required to provide free SHS education to all kids with no discrimination at all cost in order not to leave out any kid of God in obtaining education when God has made us to develop and to be in an era of IT Revolution and through the use of the process of Digitization and Digitization, the issue of teachers/teaching and learning material as well as the issue of contact hours and the issue of the need for brick and mortar infrastructure should not be a barrier to free SHS if we use our heads very well.

This is more important when God has endowed Ghana with numerous resources and in the case of the mineral resources, God gave wisdom to the framers of the 1992 Constitution to come out with the Constitutional injunction at Article 257 (6) which vested the minerals in Ghana in the President of Ghana, on behalf of, and in trust for the people of Ghana. Both the Constitution and God permitted/permits revenue generation for the running of the State by tax among other means. So if we have serious problems with the Free SHS, then we need to examine ourselves.

Since we need to understand that, Ignorance (illiteracy, lack of knowledge, unawareness etc) coupled with corruption is the bane of national socioeconomic development and a cankerworm that threatens National Cohesion or the Nation as a Political entity. So, application of good reasoning and logic for us to understand that free Education is both God’s and Constitutional plan and use the abundance resources provided by God and accrual revenue from taxes provided by the Constitution to the Nation sensibly. So, with critical mindset and positive thinking coupled with thinking outside the box, the funding for the Free SHS is very possible and the other implementation challenges can be addressed with good leaders.

So, appreciating that Ghana has been provided with more than enough resources, talented personnel and the people of a nation is the most important national resources, is the reason why the Bogobiris (with fighting spirit) are supporting a policy of investing in the children of a nation without discrimination, as a way to ensure the future of a nation.

Yes, without discrimination like the suggestion by some school of thoughts for the consideration of the wealth status of parents before granting scholarship, because the Character of some of us (Ghanaians) both by our social and culture setting (has caused and is causing the throwing out of some first wives with their children for us to marry slay queens when some Ghanaians happened to become rich or occupy a bigger Offices.

Our social and culture setting speaks volumes of matters of negligence, irresponsibleness, greediness on the part of some parents or persons as reflected in the vices with the Scholarship from both COCOBOD and the Scholarship Secretariat. We also have issues of some Ghanaians easily prone to change a ‘taste’ for a new spouse resulting in painful divorces and the woman made to pack out with her children who are still bearing the name of their father as surname etc. The surname and status of the father of the kid may give a wrong impression that he or she has a responsible wealthy father. We also have the issue of the culture of some societies resulting in a woman and her children thrown out from their homes when the husband of the woman dies. Hence, we should reckon the possibility of single mothers as well as irresponsible parents that could make some kids to truncate their education or not able to attend SHS as reported in the past. Hence, the demand for no discrimination based on wealth status is sine qua non.

We may also encounter a problem of fairness if we want to use wealth status as a determinant factor. Are we going to use the details of bank statements as required by some embassies?. Otherwise how are we going to tell who should pay and who should not pay the fees because some gold dealers or some rich farmers, some rich fishermen, businessmen may not have bank accounts or do not save their monies since there is law demanding that huge monies should not be kept at homes as in the Hon Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah case.

We may also encounter a problem of unfairness because of a problem of cheats or dishonest persons who may be richer than say a Professor who by his or her status is made to pay the fees for his or her ward but the cheat may not disclose his or her status of wealth or the job she or he does and thus made to benefit the Free SHS.

It must be noted that the rich persons pay more taxes say PAYE for themselves and their employees (since the job is created by the rich business person,) SNNIT Contribution, Corporate Tax of their Companies than the poor who always try to dodge payment of taxes or buy food etc from the road side without paying tax, VAT etc.

Let me give a classical example or an experience in order to drive my point home on the issue of unfairness due to cheats as well as the issue of failure to pay tax or tax noncompliance. Some of our compatriots are shop operators and food vendors at Kiosks or table tops at the wayside without paying tax. Some of the food vendors in particular do not provide seats, do not employ additional hands and they do operate without a payment of a tax (VAT etc.) but sell rice in take away container at higher or same price as at a Restaurant which is tax compliance and operates with necessary infrastructure (dining hall with toilet or washroom, chairs and tables, Fan or AC) TV with Decoder for entertainment etc. The Restaurant also have employees and IT Teller machine for issuance of VAT receipts by operators.

Tasty Queen Restaurant near Star Junction Kumasi by the Santasi main road and near Opoku Ware SHS Kumasi operates in a very beautiful brick and mortar facilities with over ten employees, AC/fan, furniture, two teller machines for the issuance of VAT, TV and Decoder, Security element, yet the owner sells rice in good take away containers at a minimum of GHC20.00 including VAT for a take away meal of the same quantity and quality which is sold at GHC30.00 at by food vendors at some Kiosks at the road side with no payment of Tax or VAT or issuance of VAT receipts and no employment of additional hands or security, no seats provided etc.

So, Pastors and Imams need to speak against the cheaters in the society, because the school feeding program has exposed the hypocrisy and dishonesty in the Country since we aware that the caterers for the school feeding program are paid GHC1.38 per day per pupil and out this amount tax is deducted and the patriotic caterers cook meals for the pupil an are very happy that they have a profit margin to gain from the GHC1.38 per pupil. How the Caterers of the School Feed Program are able to perform wonders with this very low capitation grant per child should be an eye opener to tell, food vendors in Ghana are cheats. The owner of Tasty Queen and others like her and the Caterers of the School Feeding Program need to be applauded for their good work for public good by our leaders especially Chiefs, Politicians (especially the DCE or MCE) and the Imams and Pastors since most of the operators are part of their members.

The above assertions tells that the wards of the rich who are contributing a lot to national revenue also deserve the national cake without discrimination. So, in order to ensure effective socioeconomic and political development of the Nation, so, free education as the area a government to invest in should be a must do requirement.

Free SHS is a remarkable legacy policy or Bold Solution for Ghana for the transformation of generation to generation, so it must be maintained without discrimination as required by the 1992 Constitution. We only need to see how best to fund it.

So let me say again that Free SHS must be a universal social intervention for all Ghanaians from Accra to Paga without discrimination as against social amenity or infrastructure like Sofoline or Pokuase or Kwame Nkrumah interchange to deal with traffic problem for few users of the infrastructure hence to be provided to areas as and when necessary. So need to spend on Free SHS as well when budgeting for Infrastructure

Some School of thought recommended the creation of Community Day SHSs for the poor and limiting boarding SHS to the rich thus creating of class society or discrimination regardless of the advantages of the boarding system in helping in creating and maintaining a better social fabric and national cohesion

The problems as stated above, must be regarded as risks and the solution is free SHS for all kids by the Nation using the resources provided by God and the Constitution in a very good manner.

To give much clarity on the Free SHS, let me in the next pages deal with the Scholarship Situation at the Secondary or SHS level before the introduction of the Free SHS and the Current Free SHS and come out with the remedies for the Challenges/associated risks.

Scholarship Situation at SHS level before Free SHS

Ghana on the attainment of Independence by the first President of Ghana namely President Dr Kwame Nkrumah found that poverty and ignorance (illiteracy, lack of knowledge, unawareness etc) were endemic in the Northern Regions which were behind the Southern Regions by development and education. So President Nkrumah’s remedies included an immediate socioeconomic development with establishment of industries like the Pwalugu Tomatoes factory, the Zaurugu or Bolga Meat Marketing Board etc and the establishment of Agencies like the State Farms, the Grains Development Board, the Cotton Development Board, GNTC etc, and the Veterinary College at Tamale.

To deal with the educational gap between the North and South and the associated poverty state, President Dr Kwame Nkrumah introduced a poverty alleviation or social intervention policy by an immediate wholesale Scholarship for all students attending schools in the North without discrimination. Due to the political situation, no system was put in place to check that it was granted only to Students from the North as planned, so the policy benefitted some Southerners and other Nationals living in the North.

Funding of the Free education as established by President Dr Nkrumah was by the Central Government and he made the Ghana Education Trust Fund/Scholarship Secretariat to be responsible for cost of infrastructure (brick and mortar facilities, furniture etc) the cost of Boarding, cost of feeding, cost of tuition (teaching and learning material) etc whilst a student personally or through his or her local Council now District Assembly was responsible for bursary or subsidy against Uniform and Stationery etc.

So, the free education policy enjoyed by persons of the Northern extraction as initiated effective from the Regime of Dr Nkrumah in the First Republic to the Regime of President Mills in the Fourth Republic consisted of two legs of Scholarships namely Scholarship by the Central Government managed by the Scholarship Secretariat and Bursary from the Student’s then local Council (now District Assembly) otherwise by Corporate Bodies especially the Mining Companies etc

This was an Affirmative action to close the gap between the South and the North by ensuring that students from the North would be able to attend Secondary Schools. Dr Nkrumah established at the State level (Central Government) for students in the South who parents were poor by the COCOBOD Scholarship, which was actually meant for cocoa farmers and poor people but was abused or manipulated by Ghanaians especially some rich people and some public servants/ politicians to gain scholarships for their wards or associates though they were capable of taking care of the fees.

The old Free Secondary Education of Dr Nkrumah for the Northern Sector was also with the problem of a delay of payment but the State and also suffered inadequate payments despite the very low budget requirements for the Scholarship for students in SHS just only the Northern Sector.

A new system of free SHS was introduced in 2015. This is manifested in Page 124 of the Budget Statement for 2016 stated that the Regime of President Mahama in September 2015, introduced Progressive Free SHS policy in Otuam near Ekumfi in the Central Region with the aim to take care of the fees of Day Student of SHS as a start and to be extended to students in the Boarding Schools later. Funds were provided against Examination, ICT, Library, Entertainment, Curricular fees, Science and Maths quiz, SRC, Sports/Culture.

Though the program of Progressive Free SHS started in the 2015/2016 academic year, it was reported that payment was not done for the 2016/2017 academic year, hence this forced the Headmasters of the various schools to demand payments. A Media report in 2019 alleged that Heads of SHS demanded arrears of the three year scholarship policy intervention termed as Progressive Free SHS introduced by the regime of President Mahama.

Current or Prototype Free SHS
The Universal Free Senior High School ((UFSHS) policy started in the academic year 2017/2018, hence by President Nana Addo’s regime with the first year students in all public SHS and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institution across the Country whether Day or Boarding Student. Thus without discrimination in the first history of Ghana, a Scholarship at the SHS level was/is opened to every kid in SHS and TEVT in Day and Boarding Schools.

This bold new system takes care of both Boarding and Day Students with the Government granting at Scholarship of GHC1002.47 to Boarding Students (Boarders) whilst Day students were paid GHC648.47 per academic year with resident students provided with three meals whilst day students get one meal. The tuition fees were waived for all pupils and the State also take care of power and water (Utility) bills.

In the first time in the History of Ghana, this Free SHS policy allowed some students from disadvantaged schools to be admitted in prestige schools like Mfantispim, Achimota, PRESECE Legon, Wesley Girls, etc. So, it will be applauded by future generations since it is an effective educational policy for national development through transformation from generation to generations. Thus this Free SHS policy resonates very well with the aspiration of all Ghanaians.

Fear of increase in student enrollment with associated problems of inadequate classrooms, inadequate hostel facilities and inadequate dining rooms/halls. So issues of congestion at class rooms, congestion in boarding houses or hostels and congestion in dining halls respectively. Problem of lack or inadequate teaching and learning material and issues of high ratio student to teachers thus increase teachers’ workload, also were problem of unstable school calendar. Double Tracking system was introduced as a temporary measures to solve the problem of congestion whilst making effort to build the needed structures. Good job by then Hon Minister of Education for thinking outside the box.

Issue of some of teething problems like late release of funds by the Government and students fooling around and disturbing their colleagues who want to be serious, issues of Students not deserving the grades scored in exams and not able to catch up in subsequent educational ladders. Issue of no adequate Teachers or Teaching material or facilities were problems.

These or some of these problems existed with the old system or in the past. I can recollect the state of affairs during our days in Navrongo Secondary School or Schools in the North. We had to depend on Expatriates including Peace Corp Volunteers from USA and India as Teachers and with not enough text books. Yet we performed better with one of my very senior namely Student David Millar now Professor Millar scored 9 grade Ones in the ‘O’ Level, first in the Country. Hmm, Senior Student Cletus Avoka now Hon Mr Avoka recently disclosed in Joy News program normally hosted on Fridays hosted by Aisha about the state of affairs in Navrongo Secondary School, which was the same in other Secondary Schools in the North in the past.

The issues of Students not deserving the grades they used to enter the University and other places is not news at all because it was worse in the past with reports of exam sit contractors and other problems. I can remember a fellow Officer Cadet at the Military Academy Teshie and a fellow Army Officer who used the result of some Exam Contractors to enter the Academy had to desert the Academy or the Army when their girlfriend and wife respectively had to blow their cover as result of separation.

The scale of the vices may be different and may be very high now, due to the very high number of students now and the state of IT Revolution era or era of Digitization and Digitalization and Ghana Card (biometric system) which make it very easy to detect the crimes in the system so we should not be very alarm because the corrupt acts are part of our DNA. Hence the high level of corruption is expected.

The other challenges bedeviling the policy include the issue of inadequate infrastructure for teaching and learning, for lodging or accommodation, non-availability of books, shortage and poor quality of food items among others. Also were the complain of parents spending a lot to buy items stated, hence, it was alleged that Parent bear 77 percent of the cost as alleged by Eduwatch that parents pay about GHC4, 185.00 and GHC1,241.00 by Government.

Due to the associated problems, calls were made for a review of the policy of Free SHS, with some suggesting that it should be limited to farmers, fishermen etc and make others to pay. Thus a wrong thinking by some compatriots that that farming and fishing are done by very poor people or these activities are not regarded as Agribusiness. Others suggested the need for Community Day SHS etc for those who cannot pay and restrict the boarding system to those who can pay. Others suggested a capping the amount payable to GHC 500.00 per student per academic year and leaving the parents and their wards to bear the other costs and the choice to be a Day or Boarder Student at their cost.

In 2022, Dr Manteaw, then Co-Chair of Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative alleged that more than GHC1.8 Billion of crude oil revenue goes into financing Free SHS. Reports have it that since 2017, GHC8.4 Billion was spent on Free SHS in seven years for over 5.7 Million students. Hence, the current funding not sustainable since oil is finite resources so Dr Manteaw suggested that Corporate bodies to be encouraged to support through a special fund. He indicated that before the Free SHS, COCOBOD was taking care of not less than 13,000 students on scholarship. Mining Companies like Newmont, AGA Obuasi, Golden Star Resources, Goldfields etc, MTN, and Unilever reportedly provided scholarships. So, Stakeholders engagement should be employed to motivate Corporate Ghana and business houses or individuals to contribute to an established Free SHS Fund.

The situation has led to over politicization of the Free SHS policy. This made the Omanhene of Dormaa or Dormaahene Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu II in Nov 2018 to warn against the politicization of the Universal Free SHS. He warned that we should not politicize the free SHS Policy thus making it to the detriment of the masses. He added that we should separate politics from pertinent national issues and consider them with the seriousness and the attention they deserve due to its huge impact on the youth in the long term

Solutions
It is alleged that between GHC144 Million and Ghc200 Million per academic year may be required for the Free SHS and as stated the current source of funding not sustainable. So I agree with the Catholic Bishop of Sunyani, the Most Rev Mathew Kwasi Gyamfi that the Funding of the project should not be allowed to be the project of the Government alone. He stated that as one of the effective intervention in Ghana’s education sector, the government must encourage individuals, corporate organizations, philanthropists etc to generously and freely contribute both in cash and kind towards the free SHS, to make it successful and thus we have collective responsibility to ensure its sustainability. So, we need to look for sustainable funding options.

So recommendations as follows (a). seeking support from external donor agencies and from local institutions to provide adequate infrastructure and setting up of Free SHS Fund and seek funding Support from both externally and internally (from CCOBOD, MTN, Telecel, Oil Companies, Mining Companies, Financial Institutions/Banks, individuals, etc.) (b). Intervention allowance to teachers (c). Transparency and Accountability to reduce the associated corruptions /embezzlement (d). Continuous monitoring and Evaluation (e) Tax Component for Free SHS say three percent or VAT elements, (f). Efficiency in governance to save cash for free SHS (g). Issuance of. Terminal Fee Bills to enhance the appreciation of the Free SHS Policy as suggested by Mr Evans Asare the Headmaster of Samuel Otun Presby SHS at Teechimatia in Ahafo Region for them to understand the cost components and not savings made by them.

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