Government is processing funds for release to some suppliers under the Free Senior High School policy by the end of this week.
This is according to a Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Y4rCuYjUS7OCf9cnLDkhW9XrpuHTZL2i”]The funds are expected to cater for the provision of food by the National Buffer Stock, uniforms and other logistics in some 56 schools.
“We are paying all the suppliers on behalf of the schools, and in addition to that, we paid buffer stock. But we will also pay all the people who manufacture things like uniforms on behalf of the schools. All these payments will be deduced from the 80%, and the rest of the monies will go back to the schools,” the Deputy Minister said.
“We are working hard to make sure that all schools that have submitted their returns will get paid. I know that his week we are reconciling, we have 56 schools so I’m hoping that by the end of this week, we would have reconciled so that the following week, they’ll look at paying all those who have submitted their returns,” Mr. Adutwum added.
Free SHS challenges
The implementation of the policy has faced some challenges key amongst them being infrastructure and feeding for the beneficiaries.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government launched the flagship programme in September 2017, to increase access to education by removing the payment of fees from public Senior High Schools.
Despite the enthusiasm after the launch, the programme has been fraught with many challenges including lack of canteens, furniture and other infrastructure in most schools.
In some schools, students do not benefit from the government’s promised free lunch as part of the programme, but the government has said that it is working to address the challenges.
Some school heads have complained about government’s failure to release funds needed for the programme.
They said only 20% of the fees government absorbed had been paid to them, making the running of the school difficult.
Some, as a result of the situation, are unable to provide enough food for the Free SHS beneficiaries due to indebtedness to the caterers.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana