{"id":301235,"date":"2017-03-13T06:30:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T06:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=301235"},"modified":"2017-03-13T06:30:30","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T06:30:30","slug":"gnat-welcomes-gradual-implementation-of-free-shs-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/gnat-welcomes-gradual-implementation-of-free-shs-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"GNAT welcomes gradual implementation of free SHS policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has backed government\u2019s plan to gradually implement its free Senior High School (SHS) policy as outlined in its 2017 budget.<\/p>\n<p>According to the union, the decision is hinged on the unavailability of resources and views the decision as prudent.<\/p>\n<p>Government will this year, make SHS education free for first year students with a <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/09\/nana-addos-key-policy-initiatives-to-cost-over-ghc2b\/\"><strong>GHc400 million<\/strong><\/a><\/span> budget and will make it free for the other levels in the subsequent years with<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;fVpuFDSgHn7hdzDnEYt6sIvENKMWbVum&#8221;]The decision has however attracted a heated response from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who argued that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised to implement the policy en bloc and not in phases.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, speaking to <strong>Citi News<\/strong> the General Secretary of GNAT, David Ofori Acheampong said he sees nothing wrong with the gradual implementation of the policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe issue is that the one who is in charge of the national budget has to determine if the state has enough resources to roll all students en bloc. If our resources are unable to meet that and they believe that they can start with the first year and roll them gradually until the next three years where the whole scheme will cover all students, we don\u2019t have a problem with it. Because it is the resources available that is important,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Free SHS must target needy students<\/strong><br \/>\nIn a related development, the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition has argued that the free SHS policy\u00a0must target students who really need <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/07\/free-shs-must-target-needy-students-coalition\/\"><strong>financial assistance<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The Coalition argued that, there is a huge funding deficit per government\u2019s budget, and implementing the policy to cover every student may result in more dire consequences on the country\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has backed government\u2019s plan to gradually implement its free Senior High School (SHS) policy as outlined in its 2017 budget. According to the union, the decision is hinged on the unavailability of resources and views the decision as prudent. Government will this year, make SHS education free for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,11],"tags":[253,3,1203],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GNAT welcomes gradual implementation of free SHS policy - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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