The Minister of Education, Dr.Mathew Opoku Prempeh has indicated that government is taking steps to address the classroom and furniture challenges being faced by the implementation of the Free Senior High School Policy.
He gave this promise in the floor of Ghana’s Parliament on Tuesday, November 7,2017 while answering questions relating to the implementation of the Policy and its adverse challenges.
According to the Education Minister,the implementation of the free SHS had lessened the burden on parents who hitherto had to struggle to raise school fees for their children.
“It is far better to have the children in school than have them out of school. It has removed financial burden on parents and pressure on offices,” he said.
Dr Opoku Prempeh said the Free SHS Policy excludes foreigners and students who repeated their classes
“An initial 20 per cent of the funds had been transferred to the schools based on the number of students placed” he emphasized.
“The remaining amount due schools will be transferred based on validated school list and submission of expenditure returns,” he said.
The Minister indicated that all fees approved by the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council for first year students, other than parents teacher association (PTA) dues, had been absorbed by the government.
He mentioned fees for two sets of uniforms, two sets of house dress, examination, utility and examination as some of the fees absorbed by the government.
“Government provided three meals for boarders and one hot meal for all day students, provision of core textbooks and subsidies for all continuing students in form two and firm three.” he said.
Source:EducationGhana.net