22-Member free SHS c’ttee inaugurated

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An all-embracing committee has been inaugurated by the Ministry of Education to advise it on the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy which comes on stream in the 2017/2018 academic year.

The committee, headed by the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has representatives from 22 institutions, including the ministries of Education, Information, Finance, National Security and Food and Agriculture, as well as the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and the Office of the Minister of State in charge of Public Procurement.

Others are from the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Conference of Heads of government-Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), Audit Service, the Buffer Stock Company Ltd, teacher unions, domestic bursars/matrons and the Scholarships Secretariat.

The committee, dubbed the “Free SHS Implementation Committee,” is to advise the minister on the way forward.

At the inauguration ceremony in Accra yesterday, Dr Prempeh explained that the committee was carefully composed of all relevant stakeholders to achieve the goal of the Free SHS policy.

Free SHS account

The Ministry of Finance, he explained, was also part of the committee because “we do not want the financial releases to be something that we are going to fight for,” adding, there should be a dedicated account for the implementation of the Free SHS policy.

“Under Free SHS, we are not expected to be chasing for funds,” he told the Finance Ministry’s representative.

He tasked the GES to ensure accurate data information management such that it should have up-to-date data on all the public SHSs and the number of students per school.

Draft document

Dr Prempeh said a document on the Free SHS was being dispatched for stakeholders to make suggestions on the initiative and possibly incorporate the good ones in the implementation plan.

“So, anything that can make the strategic document better, we will take it,” he said, adding that he was open to suggestions and opinions.

For his part, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of Cocoa, Mr William Agyapong Quaittoo, said all efforts were being made to ensure that there would be enough and excess food by the end of the farming season.