IMF criticism of the government's free SHS program
Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has responded to the International Monetary Fund's comments that the government's free secondary school program has not been properly implemented.
According to him, from the beginning, the government has made it clear that free SHS will not be for the privileged few but for all students who havepassed the Basic Education Certificate (BECE) examination. “I think from the beginning thegovernment said that we arenot going to start a free secondary school scheme by targeting some and excluding some and of course everyonewho is qualified to go to secondary school will benefit.
"So, I think it's not news if someone comes to see that the targeting is not good because we have said from the beginning that we will not start targeting anyone," he said. Speaking on Midday News and JoyFM, he explained that when they were developing the plan, the government wanted to have themaximum impact.
His comments come on the back of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) describing the freeSHS program as well-targeted. The fund made this observation in its latest country report on Ghana, whose bailout request it recently approved for $3 billion.
According to the report, the free SHS program "which fullycovers secondary school fees,has helped increase enrollment but is poorly targeted."
However, the MP for Ofoase-Ayirebi insists that the program is in its infancy, therefore, it is open to all qualified students,but in the coming years, it will be reviewed. "If you compare what they did in some states in the US, that's how they started and as the year goes on, there are other targets. That's exactly what we announced from March 21, 2020,” he added. Mr.Nkrumah continued that "goingforward, 16 flagship programswill be reviewed, so if you wantto change some of them now or revise some of them, then you have to enter the hole."
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