Parents whose children were accepted into Senior High Schools (SHS) for the 2023 academic year have voiced their unhappiness with the overhyped Free Senior High School Policy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
Parents whose children were accepted into Senior High Schools (SHS) for the 2023 academic year have voiced their unhappiness with the overhyped Free Senior High School Policy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
The outraged parents assert that, in comparison to the kinds of supplies first-year kids are expected to purchase for school, it would have been better and less expensive if SHS had not been provided free of charge.
Republic Press has learned that day students pay between 1,500 and 2,000 cedis, depending on the school, to purchase all of the products stated in the prospectus, while parents of first-year boarding students must pay between 4,500 and 8,000 cedis.
Because all of the headmasters and mistresses at the 872 senior high schools in the nation made a conscientious effort and contribution, the school prospectus and the material disclosed further are either comparable or identical.
The list of supplies that first-year students are expected to carry includes everything from nightgowns for females and pajamas for boys to padlocks and pesticides for cleaning clothes.
The remaining items include, to name a few, Dettol, Parazone, local ahenema, Ghana Must Go Bags, yellow car duster, 3.5 kg washing powder, and others.
Yet the need for a bag of board markers, a ream of A4 pages, a pack of foolscap sheets, a torch light with extra batteries, napkins, disinfectants, and many other things seemed to enrage parents.
What is the role of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in problems relating to the delivery of stationery, such as markers, A4 sheets, foolscap, and many others, is a question that many parents have.
Taxi driver Samuel Ansah, whose daughter was accepted to Labone SHS, said in an interview with the newspaper that parents were warned to report on February 27, 2023, or risk losing their admission or boarding status, but the truth is that “I went to the school with only the cutlass with both the long and short broom and nothing less.”
“It will take me more than six months to buy everything on the list. To be honest, the items on the prospectus go much further than a wedding or engagement registry, but we’re told they’re free, he questioned angrily.
Ansah urgently urged the President, GES, to look into the list of products that new pupils have been instructed to purchase and bring to school, warning that failure to do so will undermine the goal of the free SHS policy.
Because of the ongoing economic crisis and the kinds of things it will cause, he said, “It is better and would be cheaper if we reverse to the old system of fee payment than the current occurring.”
On February 27, 2023, some parents were seen in Makola Market still attempting to gather supplies for their children to attend school.
