Education Minister to present free SHS Bill to Parliament – Afenyo-Markin

The government is preparing to present the Free Senior High School (SHS) Bill to Parliament. This aims to regulate and ensure the sustainability of the Free SHS policy amidst growing concerns about potential cancellation by future administrations and the challenges currently facing the program.

Stakeholders in the educational sector, including EduWatch, have voiced their opinions on the policy. They suggested that parents who choose boarding facilities for their children should bear the associated costs. Additionally, EduWatch recommended that the policy be targeted at children from poor households, utilizing data from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program to identify eligible beneficiaries.

During a Leaders' Media Briefing on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, provided further details on the bill. He emphasized that the legislation seeks to enhance the policy's effectiveness and sustainability, aligning with the aspirations set forth in Chapter 5 of the Constitution.

"I'm also able to report that the Education Minister will present the Free SHS Bill to Parliament. Chapter 5 of the Constitution provides some aspirational indicators. Those are not justiciable, but once a policy of the government puts an aspiration as a message by the constitution into action, then to make it justiciable, you enact," Mr. Afenyo-Markin explained.

He added, "In other words, there are provisions in the constitution that you cannot enforce; you cannot claim the right to those provisions. The fact that they are there does not mean that you can apply to the court to enforce those rights; they are aspirational."