Encourage corporate Ghana to support Free SHS – Manteaw to Government

A policy analyst with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Dr. Steve Manteaw has stated corporate Ghana must be encouraged to support the educational system as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget.

His comments come after the government indicated that it is in the process of setting up a fund to receive voluntary contributions from the public to support the implementation of its flagship free Senior High School policy and the education sector as a whole.

The implementation of the free SHS has been saddled with several challenges including inadequate infrastructure and teaching materials.

Announcing the government’s move last week, during the 2018 budget presentation, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta said establishing the fund became necessary after the government received proposals to that effect.

Government is expected to spend over GHS1billion on the implementation of the policy for the next academic year.

“Mr. Speaker, with the successful launch of the free SHS programme, government received proposals from the public, several of which encourage the establishment of a fund to receive voluntary contributions to support education.

“Thankfully, the GETFund Law allows for the setting up of other education-related funds. In 2018, the Ministry will work with GET FUND to set up this education fund to enable Ghanaians to make voluntary contributions to support education,” said Ofori Atta.

Reacting to the government’s plans Tuesday on Morning Starr, Dr. Manteaw who is also a member of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) held that the announcement by Mr. Ofori Atta lacks the necessary clarity.

“The announcement of the Voluntary Education Fund did not provide much information…the whole issue lacks a lot of clarity and we do not really know how the program is going to be,” he told host of Morning Starr Francis Abban.

Calling for more details on the proposed fund, he said “We should encourage corporate Ghana to support the Educational system as part of their CSR budget” and that “the more we are able to diversify, the more, we’ll be able to raise funds for the Free SHS.”