The Minority in Parliament has called for the decentralization of the free SHS policy to help curb corruption and the persistent challenges that has blighted the implementation of the policy.

The Minority added that the move will also improve the quality and quantity of items procured for the students in the various schools.

A statement by the Minority spokesperson on Education, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe added that heads of schools are also being intimidated by the government making it difficult for them to talk about the challenges confronting the implementation of the free SHS policy.

“The over-centralization of the Free SHS program at the centre has accounted for the persistent challenges in the running of Senior High Schools in the country. Before the introduction of the program in 2017, school authorities were given free hands in the management of funds in their schools. Unfortunately, the centralization of the disbursement of funds and procurement has also led to a large scale of corruption that continues to compromise the quality and quantity of items supplied.”

The Minority’s statement comes after The Ghana Education Service (GES) rescheduled the reopening for Senior High School (SHS) Form 3 students to May 5.

The Service said, “This applies to all Form 3 students (single track and double track schools). Further details will be announced. All other arrangements on the calendar remain unchanged.”

Below is the full statement by the Minority on the free SHS:

MINORITY PRESS RELEASE ON THE LOOMING CRISIS IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS UNDER THE FREE SHS PROGRAMME IN THE COUNTRY.

In 2017, precisely at the beginning of the 2017/18 academic year, the New Patriotic Party in a rush to fulfill one of the promises in their manifesto introduced the mass Free Senior High School (SHS) with an intake of 353,053 as reported in paragraph 621 of the 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy delivered in Parliament by the Minister of Finance on 15th November 2017.

At the end of the 2018/19 academic year and according to the former Minister of Education, when he appeared before the Select Committee on Education, the number of students had risen to 794,899 students for the two cohorts.

At the end of the 2019/20 academic year, and according to the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in paragraph 929, the total number of students for the three years stood at 1,200,580.

The above figures indicate that the numbers have increased over the years and this is in fulfilment of the provisions of Article 25(1)(b) of the 1992 constitution which states that, “Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education.”

It was in this direction that the NDC government under His Excellency John Dramani Mahama in 2015/16 introduced the Progressively Free Secondary Education programme with the admission of 320,488. This approach was to ensure that government takes steps to expand infrastructure and provide the necessary amenities with time, in order to forestall the challenges the implementation of the programme would have brought.

The mass introduction in the 2017/18 academic year therefore, in itself, is not a bad idea but its implementation was not well thought through and fell short of achieving the desired goals. Thus, the programme since its introduction has been plunged into chaos and glaring challenges that were foreseen by many other stakeholders. These challenges have largely hindered the provision of quality education as required by the Constitution and Sustainable Development Goal four.

INFRASTRUCTURE

These challenges include inadequate infrastructure among others. 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. It is in view of this that we began the building of 200 E-Block facilities as Community Senior High schools to ensure that access to secondary education is brought more closely to the people as the country.

By December 2016 a number of school projects were on ongoing in over 400 senior high schools across the country. These projects had to stall due to the failure of the Nana Addo led NPP government to pay the contractors to complete work. Till date, many of these projects are at a standstill. It is also instructive to note that, the delayed payments have also eroded the gains of the contractors as some have become indebted to financial institutions.

It must also be noted that it is due to the infrastructure deficit in the educational sector, that led to the introduction of the obnoxious DOUBLE TRACK system, for the first time in the history of secondary education in this country. The situation meant that schools had to run a shift system in order to deal with the infrastructure challenges.

The attendant challenges of the Double Track system are well known to us, which includes lesser cumulative contact hours and moral issues. Currently, dormitory space is not enough as bunker beds are made so close to each other making movement in the dormitories very difficult for students. In many schools, the bunker beds are unavailable and forcing students in the boarding house to spread their mattresses on the floor. As for the status of the available beds in our schools, only Ghananian students can best describe it.

The classroom situation is not any better. Although, the government in the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy (paragraph 929) said a total of 1,119 infrastructure projects were initiated in Senior high schools since 2017, only about half (539) of these projects have been completed as well as 28 E-Block projects initiated by the John Mahama government under the Secondary Education Improvement Programme (SEIP). These 28 E-Block facilities were only completed because they had a Wold Bank financing agreement.

In 2018, Parliament approved a loan facility of 1.5 billion dollars for the payment of contractors owed by GETFUND towards the provision of new facilities for Senior High schools in the country. One would have asked why this money was not disbursed to pay contractors owed from years before the 2017 era as well as the contractors on the 1,119 projects in 2017.

The truth is that the Minister of Finance has put a number of impediments in the way of GET FUND such that access to the facility has become very difficult. The Minister of Finance also appointed a Special Purpose Vehicle such that, all certificates due for payment and were duly vetted by the Technical and Accounts Units of GET FUND have to be vetted again by an audit firm solely appointed by the Minister, causing so much delay in the payment of over 800 million Ghana Cedis to contractors with the money being locked up with the Bank of Ghana. It is worrying to say that if nothing urgent is done regarding infrastructure challenges in our schools, we would be confronted with a bigger catastrophe in this era of the Covid-19 pandemic.

FEEDING

Every student who is a boarder is expected to be given three square meals daily, while day students are expected to receive an afternoon meal. Nonetheless, and sadly so, our investigations and observations have revealed that the food served our wards in the schools does not really meet the nutritional standards.

Years before the introduction of Free SHS, parents had to pay for the feeding of their wards and so, they had the opportunity through the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) to demand that the right food was served in the schools especially, anytime there was an agitation from the students. Currently, both students and parents have been barred from questioning what type of food is served in our schools.

Further investigations also revealed that near-expired food items are dumped on the school authorities to be cooked and served to students in our schools. What is more troubling is that we are now under a certain jurisdiction where heads of schools cannot complain for fear of intimidation.

A recent investigation also revealed how a supplier re-labeled imported tin fish and proceeded to supply it to the schools. While the inner cover showed that the tin fish was made in Indonesia, the outer label showed otherwise. The language on the inner was also not in English contrary to the regulations of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).

These happenings have forced parents to provide their wards with extra food items when they leave home for school to avoid the issue of malnutrition which in itself can affect the academic progression of these school children.

FUNDING

The release of funds to finance the implementation of the Free SHS policy has become a hurdle. The release of funds, though very meager, is unduly delayed by managers of the policy, such that the purchase of perishables has become difficult for school authorities. The situation is making life and activities in our schools more troubling as school heads are unable to meet the huge demands that confront them.

What is more intriguing this year, is the reduction in funding for the Free SHS program from about 2.4 billion Ghana Cedis to 1.9 billion Ghana Cedis in the preceding years and this is captured in the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy. What is more interesting is that the management of the program has been transferred from the Jubilee House to the Ministry of Education; a situation very difficult to comprehend. As the number of students increases, funding must also rise and this can only be explained by the Jubilee House as to what accounted for the reduction. Unfortunately, officials of the Ministry of Education were unable to explain this when they appeared before the Select Committee on Education.

THE WAY FORWARD

The over-centralization of the Free SHS program at the centre has accounted for the persistent challenges in the running of Senior High Schools in the country. Before the introduction of the program in 2017, school authorities were given free hands in the management of funds in their schools. Unfortunately, the centralization of the disbursement of funds and procurement has also led to a large scale of corruption that continues to compromise the quality and quantity of items supplied. In view of this, we believe that management of the Free SHS policy, disbursement and procurement must be decentralized with a stringent monitoring mechanism to reduce the high rate of corruption in the system.

The Parent-Teacher Association must be revamped and given the powers that used to be to enable them make positive inputs into the running of our schools. PTAs used to play very supportive roles in the development of Senior High Schools until the introduction of the Free SHS policy.

The infrastructure needs of the schools must be addressed as a matter of urgency so that the looming crisis can be averted. The crowded dormitories and classrooms have to be decongested to avoid the spread of infectious diseases in our schools and this must involve a committed effort on the part of the government to address the infrastructure challenges.

GETFUND must also have access to the loan approved by parliament to enable them make payments to contractors toward the completion of stalled projects in our schools within the shortest possible time.

In conclusion, it’s our responsibility as a people that we demand from the government that the necessary steps are taken not only to improve the living conditions of our children in schools across the country but also to ensure that our children gain access to quality education in the face of this good but poorly implemented policy of the Nana Addo led government.