'Akufo-Addo’s free S.H.S not free’ - Former Minister

Former Ashanti regional Minister says President Akufo Addo’s Free Senior High School policy is not entirely free as it is being reported.

According to Peter Anarfi-Mensah, some of the components of the fee the President mentioned such as utilities are already free in public schools.

President Akufo-Addo detailing his policy over the weekend at the 60th Anniversary celebration of Okuapeman School said “by free SHS, we mean that, in addition to tuition which is already free, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no science centre fees, no computer lab fees, no examination fees, no utility fees, there will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free.”

The President added further that “Free SHS will also cover agricultural, vocational and technical institutions at the high school level. I also want to state clearly again that we have a well-thought-out plan that involves the building of new public Senior High Schools and cluster public Senior High Schools.”

But Anarfi-Mensah who is a former Headmaster at Tepa Senior High School in an interview with the host of Abusua Nkomo, Kwame Adinkra said the free components mentioned by the president will only cover some percentage of the current fees paid by boarding students and 90 percent of that paid by day students.

He says, “so per what the president is saying, parents will still pay some fees and we cannot conclude that senior high school is going to be entirely free as the president saying.”