The Member of Parliament for Builsa South and Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Dr. Clement Abas Apaak has strongly criticised the Akufo-Addo administration’s indebtedness to public senior high schools across the country over the Free SHS policy.
Citing a recent letter by the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) addressed to the Minister of Education, Dr Apaak underscored the financial challenges plaguing secondary schools under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) Programme and warned of potential school closures if outstanding funds are not released.
“Equally, many Ghanaians are asking why Akufo-Addo has failed to meet his obligations to his so-called flagship policy when all budgetary requests made to fund the free SHS policy since 2017 have been approved by parliament?”
Dr. Clement Abas Apaak, MP Builsa South Constituency and Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament
Dr Apaak pointed out that the CHASS letter chronicled a litany of debts owed to public secondary schools, including arrears for perishable items, transport funding, and utility bills.
He strongly opined that the CHASS’s letter indicted the government’s management of its flagship Free SHS policy, which according to him has been fraught with funding challenges despite being a cornerstone of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) governance.
According to the NDC MP, the CHASS’s letter disclosed that the government’s debts to secondary schools date back four years.
“In 2021, available data shows that recurrent arrears for SHS 1 and SHS 2 students were left unpaid in the second semester. Second-year students in transition schools were not also catered for in funding as the debts piled up.
“The story worsened the following year when throughout the first year of the succeeding academic year, recurrent arrears expected to take care of SHS 1, 2, and 3 students were not paid. In the second semester of 2022, the government paid half of the recurrent arrears to the transition schools for third-year students. For SHS 1 students who were in school that semester, the lingering arrears were not paid.”
Dr. Clement Abas Apaak, MP Builsa South Constituency and Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament
Dr Apaak further noted that the trend worsened in 2023, with the government failing to settle debts for SHS 1 students in the first semester and continuing its pattern of neglect in the second semester.
He claimed that only examination fees were paid to transition day and boarding schools during the 2023/2024 academic year, leaving other critical components unfunded.
Additionally, Dr Apaak indicated that only 50% of arrears owed to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for WASSCE practicals in the 2022 and 2023 academic years have been settled.
A Crisis Years in the Making
Dr Apaak’s critique centred on the silence of CHASS in earlier years, even as debts accrued and the Free SHS programme faced operational challenges. “Why has CHASS been quiet about Akufo-Addo’s indebtedness to his so-called flagship policy all this while?” he asked.
He further questioned why President Akufo-Addo, despite receiving parliamentary approval for the programme’s funding, failed to meet the financial obligations required to sustain it.
The MP pointed out that from 2017 to 2024, GHS 15.5 billion was allocated to the Free SHS programme, yet the schools are struggling with unpaid debts, raising suspicions of mismanagement or diversion of funds.
Dr Apaak called for a probe into Free SHS expenditures from 2017 to 2024 by the incoming government of President-elect John Dramani Mahama.
The Free SHS programme, which was touted as a hallmark of President Akufo-Addo’s administration, has faced significant scrutiny in recent years. Critics argue that while the policy is laudable in principle, its implementation has been marred by inefficiency and financial mismanagement.
Dr Apaak noted that the government dismissed concerns raised by civil society and education stakeholders, accusing critics of attempting to derail the programme.
CHASS’s ultimatum to the government — that schools may not reopen on January 3, 2025, without the release of funds — underscores the urgency of the crisis. Dr. Apaak criticized the association for its late intervention, suggesting that earlier advocacy could have prevented the current predicament.
Dr. Apaak emphasized the need for accountability, urging the incoming Mahama administration to investigate the management of the Free SHS programme.
He argued that the mismanagement of the policy reflects the broader incompetence and corruption of the Akufo-Addo government.
“The CHASS letter of lamentations confirms what many Ghanaians have always known: the Free SHS programme, while noble in intent, has been poorly managed,” Dr Apaak stated. He expressed confidence that the Mahama administration would implement reforms to sustain and improve the programme.
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