A proposed Free SHS Bill is expected to be laid before the 275 lawmakers soon after Parliament resumes from an almost three-month break. This move aims to regulate the Free SHS policy and ensure its sustainability, amidst concerns of potential cancellation by future governments and challenges faced by the programme.
Stakeholders in the educational sector, including EduWatch, have suggested that parents who opt for boarding facilities should cover the associated fees. EduWatch also recommended targeting the policy at children from poor households, using data from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme as a reference point.
Speaking at a Leaders’ Media Briefing on Tuesday, June 11, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, announced that the bill seeks to make the policy more effective and sustainable, aligning with the aspirations outlined in Chapter 5 of the Constitution.
“I think this Free SHS Bill, if we consider it as a house, means that it becomes mandatory to implement this. Unless it is repealed, no government will have the right to say they will not enforce Free SHS,” Afenyo-Markin stated.
He explained that while these constitutional provisions are not currently enforceable by law, the government aims to make them justifiable through legislation.
“I’m also able to report that the Education Minister will present the Free SHS Bill to Parliament. Chapter five of the Constitution provides some aspirational indicatives. Those are not justiciable, but once by a policy of the government, an aspiration as a message by the Constitution is put into action, then to make it justiciable, you enact.”
“In other words, there are provisions in the constitution that you cannot enforce. You cannot claim the right to those provisions. The fact that they are there does not mean that you can apply to the court to enforce those rights. They are aspirational.”
The Free Senior High School policy was initiated by the government in September 2017 to afford all qualified students access to senior high school education. That year saw an 11% increase in enrolment, breaking records from previous years. In the 2017/18 academic year, a new record was set with over 470,000 students enrolled in senior high school, according to the Ministry of Education.
The free secondary education policy implies the government’s absorption of all approved fees currently charged to students in public Senior High Schools. Every Ghanaian child placed into a public second cycle institution by the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) during the school placement process is eligible for a free SHS education.
By Eugene Davis
