The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has hailed the Nana Akufo-Addo government for putting in place the right policy initiatives that has lessened the economic burden on parents and guardians.
According to him, the NPP government has reduced the burden of Ghanaians as result of the introduction of some policy interventions such as the free senior high school initiative.
The Minister in his mid-year budget review in Parliament on Thursday, mentioned that the implementation of the free SHS programme has provided over 90,000 teenagers access to Senior High School education.
He noted that the policy initiative has also helped parents save significant sums of monies to cater for other responsibilities other than taking care of school related expenditure for their wards in day and boarding schools.
“On the socio-economic front, the Akufo-Addo government has eased the burden of hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians and invested in the future of our children and our country. We implemented the Free SHS programme that has provided over 90,000 additional teenagers an opportunity to access high school education and improve their future prospects. This major flagship programme has saved parents a minimum of GH¢3,000 and GH¢1,950 per student per academic year for boarding students and day students respectively”
The Finance Minister also mentioned “sufficient allocation has been made in the 2018 to cover the first term of the 2018/2019 academic year” for the free senior high school policy.
He said government has put in place some stop gap measures to expand access to Senior High Schools.
He said that government has provided dining hall furniture, mono desks, bunk beds and student mattresses, and other materials to address the challenges that come with the implementation of the Free SHS programme.
“In order to address the initial challenges identified with the implementation of the programme, 96,413 mono desks, 32,171 dining hall furniture, 3,033 tables and chairs for teachers, 12,953 bunk beds, 4,335 student mattresses, and 5,135 computer laboratory chairs have been supplied to various Senior High Schools,” he added.
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