The ruling NPP, through its Majority Leader in Parliament, has announced its
decision to send a bill to Parliament to bind future governments over the
implementation of the Free Senior High School (FSHS).

Many have questioned the rationale for this decision since a bill of this sort was not contemplated at its inception until now. These questions are being asked because none of the presidential candidates in this year’s elections have been heard anywhere or in any form promising that they will discontinue the FSHS.

It appears the government is on an agenda to blackmail the opposition NDC as
opposing the FSHS and that they (NDC) will cancel the FSHS programme if
Ghanaians go ahead and vote for the NDC into power. The bill is being used as
bait to deceive Ghanaians into believing that John Dramani Mahama will cancel the FSHS program, and therefore they should vote for the NPP to maintain the policy.

Article 25 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides 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.”

President Mahama in showing fidelity to this constitutional provision, introduced the Progressive Free Senior High School programme in 2015. Plainly, the NDC have not opposed the FSHS and their conduct have not shown such.

But why should the bill be the only issue that concerns the ruling NPP? Are they
saying they have not heard the many concerns raised about the FSHS programme?
For instance, there is no policy document that guides how the programme is to be
run. Ghanaians have always raised this question in the life of this program, yet the government has paid no attention.

The implementation of the School Feeding Programme, Capitation Grant, and Free
School Uniforms and others have all come along with policy documents. The
policy document will state the source of funding, logistics to be provided, manpower requirements, and so on and so forth. If there is anything that should concern the NPP, then the policy document should have been more of a concern to them than a bill.

Since the implementation of the FSHS programme, the government has not been
able to tell us the source of funding for it. Finance is essential for the sustenance of a very important policy like the FSHS. It should be noted that the allocations to the FSHS program have kept declining since its beginning. It is therefore disheartening to find the government refusing to address the financial concerns but concentrating on a bill.

The schools’ budgets are not fulfilled and running the schools has been a big
heddle for the school heads. We have heard several instances of food shortages, and if there is food at all, it is not sufficient to sustain the students, and the nutritional quality is terribly bad. In some instances, the schools instruct the students to bring food; otherwise, they cannot cook for them.

As we speak, the current Form 2 students have not received their uniforms and
they still wear improper clothing to class. Textbooks are not supplied, and the students have to make do with their own materials. In the past, this has not been the situation.

It is worthy of note that most of the cost components were absorbed by the government before the introduction of the FSHS programme. In announcing the
In FSHS, the government stated the following cost components were free: tuition, admission fees, textbooks, library fees, science center fees, ICT fees, examination fees, utility fees, boarding fees, and meals.

Tuition has always been free for all Ghanaian students, even in public
universities. Most of the cost items, including utility, boarding, and feeding,
others were again free for all northern students at the senior high schools. The
government is not providing the textbooks, uniforms, and other costs as promised
under the FSHS. Clearly, the FSHS is a synonym of the old system sloganeered to
appear as free.

Reviewing the FSHS policy is necessary and all stakeholders on our educational
front must embrace this. The politics of ‘reviewing means cancellation’ must be
disregarded and those who preach this must be shamed and confronted with the
truth. We cannot continue with this programme in its current form. We must treat
our children with the dignity they deserve and give them an education that will
sufficiently build them to succeed in our changing world.

The way it is currently being run cannot train our children for a good future President Mahama has made his intentions known that he will review the FSHS programme if Ghanaians give him the opportunity to govern. His position is widely applauded by teacher unions, renowned experts in education, and some in the ruling NPP.

In fact, the former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, admitted that a review is necessary because somebody like him who can pay for his children's education should be allowed to do so to ease the financial pressure on the government.

Instead of focusing on a bill, I urge the NPP to emulate Ken Ofori Atta and embrace the idea of reviewing the FSHS to make it better for all of us.
The review is necessary to end the infrastructure gap, end the overcrowding in the dormitories, end the double track, maintain a stable calendar, and end all the many ills associated with this programme.