Free SHS suffering under NDC gov’t- Dr Bawumia

New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has raised concerns about the management of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

He criticised the administration over what he described as a deterioration in students’ feeding arrangements, difficulties with the placement of BECE graduates and the continued use of the double-track system.

Dr Bawumia made the comments on Saturday, October 3, when he addressed the NPP’s National Delegates Conference at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.

He said the government had promised to improve the provision of meals to students under the Free SHS programme, but claimed that conditions had instead worsened.

“Free Senior High School is suffering under the NDC. After they promised to improve meals for students, today it has deteriorated,” he said.

Dr Bawumia also drew attention to challenges he said some parents were facing in securing placements for their children after they completed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

According to him, some BECE graduates were being left out of the placement process, while parents seeking admission for their wards were being told that the students did not qualify for placement.

He said the situation was creating frustration for families seeking to secure places for their children in senior high schools.

The NPP flagbearer further criticised the NDC government for not scrapping the double-track system, which was introduced following the expansion of enrolment under the Free SHS programme.

Dr Bawumia said the NDC’s approach to the programme was not surprising to him, arguing that the party had previously opposed and criticised Free SHS.

“I believe many Ghanaians are not surprised by the way the NDC government is managing the Free SHS programme. They never believed in it. They bastardised it for years. They called it 419, election after election, until they realised its impact on every household in Ghana,” he said.

He maintained that the programme would operate more effectively under an NPP administration, pointing to the party as the initiator of the policy.

“Free SHS would be truly functioning as intended if its initiator, the NPP, was in office,” Dr Bawumia added.

The Free SHS programme was introduced in 2017 under the NPP administration and has since significantly expanded access to public senior high school education.