Govt official gives update on process of free SHS bill to parliament
The Minister in Charge of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum is to present a Bill to make the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) permanent to Parliament, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has announced.
The Bill if considered and enacted into law by the House, the Majority leader said would have legal backing thus making it compulsory for all governments to implement the policy introduced in the September 2017 academic year.
The Bill if passed into law and unless repealed, the Majority leader in Parliament said no central government would have the right to “say that I am not going to enforce the free SHS because there is a law.”
“If a government fails to implement the policy, a citizen can apply to the court as his bonafide and the court would exact justice in that citizen’s favour, and that is the good news about this bill,” Alexander Afenyo-Markin said.
In a related development, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament have denied an allegation that they are against the Free SHS Bill to be put before Parliament by the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum.
Describing the claim as false, the leader of the Minority in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson in a press statement said “There is currently no such bill before Parliament. We cannot oppose a bill that we have not seen.”
“For the records, it was the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that birthed the 1992 Constitution which provided the legal framework for the introduction of Free Secondary Education in Ghana,” the Minority leader stated.
He explained that the NDC commenced the Free SHS program in 2015 for all-day students in public senior high schools, totalling over 320,000, with a clear plan to expand coverage to include 120,000 boarding students by 2017.
Citing remarks by the opposition NDC party’s flagbearer, John Mahama to improve the Free SHS policy, he said “The NDC will support any legislation or effort aimed at making the Free SHS programme better and sustainable.”