The Minority in Parliament has declared their willingness to support the Free Senior High School (SHS) Bill, provided it enhances the implementation and sustainability of the policy.
Despite Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s insistence that the bill would soon be laid before parliament and the minority’s opposition to it, the Bill is scheduled for a Cabinet debate this week.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) is currently drafting the proposed bill, which aims to provide legal backing to the provision of free and compulsory education at the senior high school (SHS) level.
Last Friday, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, revealed that the bill would propose the separation of junior high school (JHS) from basic school and its integration into secondary school, thereby extending secondary education to six years.
Another proposal of the bill, as shared by the minister, was the removal of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) as a prerequisite for gaining admission to the secondary level. Instead, it would serve the purpose of school selection.
In an interview with Selorm Adonoo on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Monday, Dr Clement Apaak, Ranking Member, Parliament’s Education Committee stated that the caucus would continue to anticipate the bill, expressing no challenges in supporting it as long as it enhances and sustains the Free SHS policy.
“…For us we will continue to wait for the bill. When it comes, As we have said we have no challenges supporting it as long as it is seeking to improve the implementation of the policy and to make it sustainable,” he stated.
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