{"id":381142,"date":"2017-12-08T07:17:54","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T07:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=381142"},"modified":"2017-12-08T07:20:50","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T07:20:50","slug":"ministers-must-support-free-shs-with-10-of-their-salaries-mp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/ministers-must-support-free-shs-with-10-of-their-salaries-mp\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministers must support Free SHS with 10% of their salaries – MP"},"content":{"rendered":"
National Democratic Congress [NDC] Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Ernest Norgbey, wants Ministers of state and their deputies in the Akufo-Addo administration to contribute at least 10% of their salaries into the Voluntary Education Fund to support the government’s Free SHS\u00a0 programme.<\/p>\n
According to him, the contribution will help raise enough money to address some of the pertinent challenges facing the implementation of the programme in various schools across the country.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”3yiM1zx5CBfU1l4WqnUw84ODApT779tM”]Speaking to Citi News<\/strong>, Mr. Norgbey said the ministers must take a cue from the supposed 10% contribution by ministers in the previous John Mahama government towards the construction of CHPS compounds, to promote healthcare delivery especially in rural areas of the country.<\/p>\n The creation of the Voluntary Education Fund was announced in the 2018 budget by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to among other things raise additional revenue for the Free SHS programme.<\/p>\n But Mr. Norgbey believes Akufo-Addo\u2019s ministers must demonstrate leadership by making their personal contributions to the fund.<\/p>\n \u201cI expect the 110 ministers also to contribute 10% of their salaries into this Free SHS so that our children who are in SHS will have quality Free SHS. If they are able to do that, we are talking about GH\u00a22 billion a month\u2026.If they also set aside 10% of their salaries towards the Free SHS, it will be a laudable idea for all of us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Free SHS fund<\/strong><\/p>\n The implementation of the free Senior High School (SHS) policy recently suffered some setbacks as some schools are faced with the challenge of inadequate infrastructure.<\/p>\n Government is expected to spend close to GHc1 billion on the beneficiaries of the free SHS programme for this academic year, while the figure is expected to shoot up in subsequent years.<\/p>\n Many stakeholders have called on the government to create an avenue for multiple sources of funding for the program to ensure its sustainability.<\/p>\n In view of that, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta in the delivery of the government’s 2018 budget statement in parliament, announced that “with the successful launch of the free SHS programme, government received proposals from the public, several of which encourage the establishment of a fund to receive voluntary contributions to support education. Thankfully, the GETFund Law allows for the setting up of other education-related funds. In 2018, the Ministry will work with GET FUND to set up this education fund to enable Ghanaians make voluntary contributions to support education.\u201d<\/p>\n