Don’t blame Free SHS for 23 schools without toilets – Napo

Education Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has said that there are 23 Senior High Schools in the country without toilet facilities but that is not as a result of the current free SHS programme.

Since the introduction of the free SHS in September 2017 by the President, some reports have indicated that some schools were without toilet facilities.

However, the minister, who was speaking at the Meet The Press series in Accra on Thursday, 30 November, debunked the notion that the lack of toilet facilities in those schools is as a result of the implementation of the free SHS programme.

The minister also said no senior high school was given more students for placement than its head admitted they could accommodate under the free SHS programme.

Dr Prempeh (Napo) has, therefore, refuted claims that the placements have caused congestion in schools.

Following the implementation of the Free SHS programme in September, 2017, there have been reports of decongestion in some schools with students sleeping in the open or in make-shift structures.

However, Dr Prempeh explained that the ministry is not to blame.

“There is no school that Free SHS has placed more students than the head admitted the school can contain without congestion,” he emphasised.

According to him, the ministry asked: “all heads to write to us and tell us the number of students they can admit without congestion”.

He said the records are there to prove the number of students that the ministry placed in every school.

Again, Dr Prempeh explained that the ministry requested heads of institutions to list the needs of schools, including furniture and other learning materials, which will be provided by the ministry.