Member of Parliament(MP) for Effutu constituency in the Central region and the Majority leader in Ghana’s Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has indicated that the government has expressed intentions of presenting a Bill to Parliament.
According to him, the Bill is set to regulate the Free Senior School policy and to ensure its outright sustainability.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin’s revelations come in the wake of the call for review of the education policy introduced by the Nana Addo government. The policy, which provides free senior high school education for all Ghanaians have experienced daunting challenges.
Briefing the press on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, the Majority leader said, “I’m also able to report that the Education Minister will present the Free SHS Bill to Parliament. The chapter five of the Constitution provides some aspirational indicatives. Those are not justiciable, but once by a policy of the government, an aspiration as a message by the constitution is put into action then to make it justiciable, you enact.”
He added that, there are provisions in the constitution that one cannot enforce adding that, “you cannot claim the right to those provisions. The fact that they are there, does not mean that you can apply to the court to enforce those rights. Now when it gets to the point that a government lifts it up to give life to it, there is a need to enact a law to regulate same.”
Major stakeholder have called for a thorough review of the education policy. Top of the critics is the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama who has called on the government and all stakeholders to have the policy reviewed due to the challenges which keep popping up every now and then.
Meanwhile, Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), an education Think tank, has expressed concerns that the proposed government’s Free Senior High School (SHS) Bill has been positioned more as a political legacy of the NPP government than a sustainable educational reform for all Ghanaians.
Kweku Asare, the Executive Director of Eduwatch, stated that, “I am a bit lost because in December 2020 Parliament passed a law called the Pre Tertiary Education Law which is Act 10(49). This law which was assented on 29th December 2020 has free SHS captured under section 3 which says that ‘Secondary education in its different forms including TVET shall be free and accessible to all eligible candidates. So this provision in the pre-tertiary education law is to give legal effect, is to give binding effect.”
However, Hon. Afenyo-Markin said, “The bill, which will soon be presented to Parliament, aims to regulate the policy and ensure its sustainability."
The policy, which has been a cornerstone of the Akufo-Addo administration, seeks to remove financial barriers to secondary education by covering fees, textbooks, boarding, and meals.”