A group of small scale enterprises that supply educational materials and food stuff to secondary schools in the country are calling on the government to recognize them as lead vendors in the implementation of the Free Senior High School Policy.
The group, National Association of Institutional Suppliers, said they have over the years supplied various items to schools through procurement processes with the individual schools and the Ghana Education Service.
They said the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme will kick them out of business due to the fact that government will give larger companies the contract to procure the needed resources for the schools.
The National Public Relations Officer of the group, Isaac Antwi Boasiako, said their small scale enterprises may suffer unfair market competition with bigger vendors if the government does nothing to protect them.
He told Citi News that the government must assist them to stay in business since they have enough experience in the field.
“You remember some of the books are already being shared? I mean social studies books. Now, who won the bid? Was the contract advertised? These are our concerns. If they want to unify everything let us all have a fair share of the contracts and it must be publicized. We have supported the schools for many years so we need to be recognized and at the same time kept in the system” he stated
The Free Senior High School is a flagship program of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which aims at expanding access to education by ensuring that all students pursue secondary education at no cost to the individual.
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By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana