No Government Can Scrap The Free SHS Policy—NDC MP

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North constituency in the Volta Region and Ranking Member of Select Committee on Education in Parliament, Mr. Peter Nortsu Kotoe, has indicated that no future government can scrap the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy which has been implemented by the NPP government

Mr. Nortsu Kotoe speaking to host of the SPACE FM MORNING FLIGHT Kwadwo Owusu Ansah, said although there are limitations in the implementation of the Free SHS programme, no body or no government after NPP can come and scrap the programme.

Launching the Free SHS programme on Tuesday at the West African Senior High School Campus in Accra, President Nana Akuffo Addo said the programme would be funded from the proceeds of the country’s oil and other natural resources.

The MP said “the natural resources the president Akuffo Addo said his government said is going to use to fund the programme are exhaustible in some years to come”.

He said “the programme has become a life long abattoir that we have put around our neck as a nation and every government that comes to power must look for money and fund it”.

The limitations he mentioned is that, the government cannot use every money that goes into the Annual Funding Amount for the free SHS programme. The second limitation, the MP said, if all the money in the Fund is used for the programme, it would not be enough or sufficient for the programme.

The MP asked the government to come out with more innovative ways of funding the Free SHS programme.

He said if the 400 million Ghana cedis the government will use every term to fund the programme is anything to go by, taking into consideration that the number of beneficiary students will not increase, the cost of living will not increase, then the government will need 1.2 billion every year to fund the programme.

Mr. Nortsu Kotoe was of the view that the three terms of the programme will cost the government 3.3 billion which is a lot of amount.