Bright Appiah
GHANA’S DECISION to go for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in the wake of the country’s economic challenges has sparked rumours of a possible review of some of the government’s vital social intervention programmes.
Although the details of the IMF bailout are yet to be announced, many economists are of the view that the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme and other government flagship programmes, may suffer a huge setback or possibly be scrapped because of their constraints on the national purse.
It is on this basis that Child Rights International (CRI), an organisation that has supported and rallied behind child-centred programmes, has called on the government to do everything within its power to protect and maintain the Free SHS as the country goes for the IMF programme.
According to a statement issued and signed by the Executive Director of CRI, Bright Appiah, under no circumstances should the Free SHS policy suffer because Ghana is heading for an IMF programme.
He said the gains from the Free SHS “are so huge and therefore risking it would spell doom for Ghanaian children.”
Mr. Appiah said since the Free SHS programme has already been set in motion, it would be costly to review it.
The Free SHS, which was introduced in September 2017, Mr. Appiah said CRI has supported and rallied behind it and any other child-centred programmes.
“This is why we must all continue to throw our weight behind the Free SHS and protect it from any act that could affect it smooth implementation,” he pointed out.
Mr. Appiah reiterated that since the “Free SHS is a social investment policy, any other consideration will affect the masses.”
Focus
On the current state of the Free SHS policy, Mr. Appiah stressed the need for prudent expenditure and timeous delivery of services by the various stakeholders tasked to ensure the smooth running of the programme.
He said “it is disturbing to hear reports of children not been fed and also funds not released on time to finance the various aspects of the Free SHS programme. This is where proper attention needs to be given and not the slightest thought of reviewing the policy or scrapping it because of the IMF programme.”
To make the programme more efficient, he said there must be a demand of accountability from the managers of the schools, adding that sanctions ought to be applied where necessary.
“As a country, we have come far with the Free SHS programme to allow some individuals or groups to put it under jeopardy. This should never happen,” he said.
Mr. Appiah further said the future of Ghanaian children “is paramount and must be protected at all cost.”
Benefits
According to statistics from the Ghana Education Service (GES), 1.6 million youth have so far benefited from the Free SHS programme since its introduction.
Most of the beneficiaries of the programme are children from deprived communities who before the implementation of the policy were idling at home because of lack of finances.
Since the inception of the Free SHS, the government has invested over GH¢7 billion to implement the programme.
As at June 2022, the Government of Ghana had spent GH¢7.7 billion in implementing the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy since its inception. An amount of GH¢480 million was spent on the policy in 2017, GH¢1.3 billion in 2018, GH¢1.6 billion in 2019, GH¢2.4 billion in 2020, GH¢1.9 billion was spent in 2021, while the cost is expected to increase drastically in 2022.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who gave the figures in the 2021 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review, said the cost covered a number of areas including free tuition, uniform and food for school children.
Another report said Free SHS policy occupied the major share of the country’s total expenditure, compared to other government initiatives.
Accepting but not admitting that the Free SHS takes a chunk of the nation’s resources, Mr. Appiah said the policy is one of the best Ghana has ever had.
Although the implementation of the Free SHS programme may have brought some burden on the country’s coffers, he said, no other policy has yielded more returns than the Free SHS.
Mr. Appiah explained that education is not a cost; rather, it is an investment, adding that critics of the Free SHS are only interested in the present financial cost, without considering its long-term economic benefits to the country.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu