The government has set aside GH200 million to ensure the success of its flagship initiative, the Free Senior High School (SHS).
A portion of the funds will be directed to the National Food Buffer Stock (NAFCO) for the purchase of food items, while the remainder will be directed to the heads of SHSs to cover perishables.
The remaining funds cover a portion of last year’s arrears as well as additional expenditures such as uniforms, boarding students’ feeding, and one hot meal for day students.
Details
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, stated in an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic that further details of the disbursement will be made public later.
“For now, we are working out how much will be apportioned to each of the areas. The most important thing is that the government has released GH¢200 million and this is good enough for me,” he said.
Dr. Adutwum assured that further funding will be provided during the academic year, stating that “there are funds for the flagship program, which shows you that the government is not broke.”
Statistics
There are now 827,193 students enrolled in second and third-year SHS.
This semester, a head count will be done to ascertain the precise number of first-year students who have enrolled.
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According to the government, 447,219 first-year students have enrolled thus far.
Since its commencement in 2017, the government’s main education initiative, Free SHS, has served over 1.6 million students as of the end of 2021.
The average enrollment in SHSs has also grown from around 800,000 in 2015 to 1.2 million in 2021, with the double-track system playing a significant role.
Since its inception, the Free SHS program has been funded by the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) of petroleum income and general government treasuries or the Consolidated Fund.
Benefits of Free SHS
“For now, we are working out how much will be apportioned to each of the areas. The most important thing is that the government has released GH¢200 million and this is good enough for me,” he said.
SOURCE: GRAPHIC ONLINE
