Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum
DEPUTY MINISTER of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has indicated that the ‘Free Senior High School (SHS)’ initiative is strictly for public second cycle schools and not private ones.
It would be recalled that the Conference of Heads of Private Second Cycle Schools (CHOPSS) on Wednesday, September 13, called on the government to include private schools in the implementation of the ‘Free SHS’ flagship policy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
The General Secretary of CHOPSS, Joseph Dzamesi, speaking at a press conference on the policy, said it is clear that private senior high schools contribute significantly not only to the educational sector, but also in the area of job creation and the growth of the economy hence, the need for their inclusion in the policy.
But the deputy education minister, responding to the call, said placing students in private schools is not an option for the government under the current policy.
According to him, “We are sending students to only public schools and not private schools.
“I also have a private school. I could have chosen to send some of the students to my school, but this is a government policy aimed at public schools.”
Dr. Osei Adutwum stressed, “Private schools are private schools. Public schools are public schools. The latter is managed by government. Government will continue to support private schools but government wants to improve upon its systems.”
He noted, “If the private schools had a problem, they could have come to us. They chose to go to the press for the press to come to us.”
The CHOPSS, at the press conference, said private senior high schools do not exist to compete with public schools but rather to complement the efforts of Government in providing access to secondary education for Ghanaian children.
Mr Dzamesi said CHOPSS believed that every effort must be made to protect the existence of private senior high schools since it is clear that the government alone cannot absorb all students from the junior high schools who graduate yearly.
“If all private SHSs close down, access to secondary education for the more than 50,000 students currently enrolled in the private SHSs would be jeopardised,” he said.
Mr Dzamesi therefore, called on the government to as a matter of urgency, include private SHSs in the schools listed on the self-placement website.
He also urged the government to extend its policy to cover students in private SHSs in the distribution of textbooks, computers, buses, equipment and chemicals for the science laboratories, technical and vocational workshops.
Mr Dzamesi said while public schools would get those resources for free, private schools could pay a discounted price for them so that government could recoup some of its investments.
BY Melvin Tarlue