Explore Ways to Include the Private Sector in Free SHS Policy — Asantehene

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has appealed to the government and experts in education to devise innovative strategies to ensure the utilisation of resources of the private sector in the implementation of the free senior high school policy.

He said private schools had over the years played an important role in the educational system and the past decade had in particular, seen an explosion of investment in the senior high school space.

The Asantehene explained that, infrastructure and facilities available at some private schools were at par with some of the best public schools, but with the implementation of the free senior high school policy, there was no space for the fee-paying schools.

The question, he pointed out was “what becomes of these schools and of the huge investments made by Ghanaian entrepreneurs in them”.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu, was speaking at the opening of the 56th annual conference of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) in Kumasi.

The week-long conference is on the theme “free senior high school in Ghana: the role of stakeholders”

The Asantehene, said though there was not simple solution as to the involvement of the private sector in the policy, what “the country cannot afford to do is to bury our heads in the sand and pretend we can ignore the problem”.

It was therefore important for the country and educational experts to “explore ways by which this massive resource may be appropriately utilised in the national interest”.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu urged the government to provide the needed resources to ensure the successful implementation of the policy in the country and asked the government to commit to the avoidance of anything that might make the task of headmasters more difficult and stressful.

The government should also eschew any tendency towards making the headmasters scapegoats for any lapses in the implementation of the policy.

Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, Minister for Education in an address read for him, said the double-track school calendar and the semester system would do a number of things for senior high school education.

This, he said  included; the creation of room to accommodate increasing enrolment using the same facilities, reduction of class sizes, increase contact hours between students and teachers as well as increase in the number of holidays.

Dr Prempeh appealed to all stakeholders to join hands with the government to ensure the successful implementation of the policy.

Mr Victor Yanney, National President of CHASS urged the government to provide all the needed items on time for smooth operations in schools.

Source: GNA