The Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is fully committed to the successful implementation of the Free SHS policy.
According to him, the government has put in enough effort to make sure that the program reaches the targeted Ghanaians by ensuring that every qualified Junior High School graduate enroll in Senior High School.
[contextly_sidebar id=”xITIDbqkZQaIlMu2MNiTTbwsuCVyKJsl”]Ambrose Dery, who was addressing teachers and students of Wa Senior High School in the Upper West Region, said the government’s commitment is evident in the release of the capitation grant and the Northern Scholarship Grants to beneficiary schools ahead of the reopening of schools.
“Apart from the free SHS for first years, Government has released for the first time, the Northern Scholarship money before the start of the first term. This year, we have released the capitation grant before the first term. Leadership is about choices, no country has found it easy to develop if it doesn’t develop its human resources, and he [President Akufo-Addo] considers the children of this country as the most important resource, and that is why he sent us out to go round and make sure that on the ground, things are working,” he said
President Akufo-Addo earlier in September formally launched the Free SHS programme which has been one of his major campaign promises since 2008.
As part of the programme, government will absorb the cost of tuition, school uniforms, feeding among others, to ensure that money is not an impediment to education for qualified Junior High School graduates.
Although the programme has been hit with some challenges, the President has said his government will work hard to resolve them and sustain it.
Last week, cabinet directed all ministers of state to tour their respective regions and districts to ascertain at first hand the prevailing challenges to the Free SHS programme.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana