The Member of Parliament for Central Tongu, Alexander Roosevelt, has lamented the many challenges facing Senior High Schools in Ghana, despite the quantum of resources allocated to fund the Free Senior High School programme.
His comment comes after the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, disclosed that a total of over GH¢9.9 billion had been spent on the Free SHS programme.
According to him, the impact of the programme was evident, with the initiative having benefitted a cumulative total of 5.7 million young people, many of whom may not have had this opportunity.
However, the Central Tongu legislator argues that this investment has not yielded any notable improvements in the conditions of senior high schools across the country.
He highlights statistics showing that a significant number of schools still lack basic facilities and resources, which hampers the quality of education.
“If you enter the dormitories of these boys and girls, it’s nothing to write home about. It’s filthy and congested and under that situation, the children will be called sick from time to time and you’re proud of this?”
“Review it, you don’t want to do it, do you pump money into something for no value? The moment you pump money into something, the value must come back, but we can’t see the value with the Free SHS,” Mr Roosevelt said on Citi News.
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The Free SHS programme was a major campaign promise by then-candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in 2016, which has subsequently become an essential part of the educational system.
About 5.7 million students have so far benefitted from the FSHS policy since it was started.
However, the policy has come under public scrutiny in recent times following reports of food shortages and a drop in the quality of teaching and learning.