Top Pastor Praises President Akuffo Addo’s Free SHS Policy But Calls For Review
The General Overseer of the. Christ Power Miracles Mission Church located at Dome Kwabenya in the Greater Accra region, Very Rev Prophet Anthony Kwarteng says President Nana Akuffo Addo deserves praises for the introduction of the free Senior High School policy into the country.
He noted that the policy has come to relieve many parents from paying huge school fees to sponsor their children’s education from the basic to senior high schools level respectively.
In an interview with correspondent, in reaction to the recent State of the nation’s address by President Nana Akuffo Addo, the clergy observed that the free Senior High School policy is though beneficial to Ghanaians, it is also surrounded with lot of challenges that call for review.
Very Rev Anthony Kwarteng cited lack of effective supervision, insufficient classrooms, alleged deals in the school feeding, inclusions of wealthy citizens children’s into the policy whereas those rich men can afford to pay for their children’s school fees, direct admissions without considering performance aggregates and the lack of checking indiscipline attitudes of students among others.
According to the clergy, the free hands also given to the headmasters to handle expenditures on food supplies without the involvement of school matrons and caterers are also questionable.
Stressing that such freedom given to the school heads contributes as a source of underfeeding that lead to the contraction of disease for students as it is happening in many Ant High Schools.
Rev Anthony Kwarteng in a suggestion, preferred that the amount of monies among other grants provided to buy perishable items for meals on daily or monthly basis as entrusted into the custody of the school heads and the Regional Directors of Education without the knowledge of the school matrons and caterers need to be cancelled since diversions of such funds can take place.
As matrons and caterers play a significant role towards the success of the free Senior High School policy, the Reverend Minister further stressed the need for the authorities to create special office at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education or Ghana Education Service and at the district level’s where matrons and caterers can channel their grievances for attention instead of relying on their school heads and Regional Directors for their problems to no avail.
Another area of concern, he said is the lack of teachers motivation with regards to the overtime on the changes in the academic calendar like the green and gold system classes introduced into the schools.
The man of God suggesting further for mechanism that could give teachers the full mandate to discipline the indisciplined students to become responsible future leaders as it was happening in the previous years, he also indicated that parents need to disassociate themselves from interference when lawful punishment is meted out on indiscipline students.
Very Prophet Anthony Kwarteng advised that low graded Junior High Schools students should be made to seek admissions at the Technical colleges during admissions times to pursue technical programs under the free education policy.
The decision he said, would help the Ghana Education Service to admit only the qualified students into the Senior High School programs.
The clergy alleged that some school heads condone with others and steal government properties including foods meant for school feeding, unlawful financial demands from students among other antisocial vices and go scot free simply because mechanisms used to check the alleged fraudulent activities in the schools are ineffective.
That was not all, the Minister of God spoke about laziness and lateness that tend to have characterized some teachers resulting to non performance of students in their final year examinations, another area he called for attention.
Truly our education sector needs to be restructured because some alleged bad nuts are working hard to bring down the policy, Rev Kwarteng authoritatively revealed.
Very Rev Anthony Kwarteng described the Npp-led Nana Akuffo Addo’s free education policy as one of the best and historic policies ever introduced into the country to benefit parents, and anyone who have the tendency to condemn it should be seen as a national saboteur.
In order to strengthen and stabilize the ills associated with the free Senior High School policy, Very Rev Prophet Anthony Kwarteng called for effective supervisory role in all the senior high schools to help bring offenders who aimed at derailing the policy to book.
He also believes that if his aforementioned suggestions are taken into consideration and enforced, it would go a long way to remove the cracks in the education sector to enhance effective academic take off in the country.
Having made his suggestions to the government for attention, he also appealed to the parliament to be proactive on matter that boarder on the country’s education sector to ensure that the free Senior High School policy becomes reality.
