Free SHS will produce mass failure and school dropouts - Hassan Ayariga

The founder of the All People’s Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga is worried about the rush in implementing the free Senior High School (SHS) policy by the current government; observing that it is may result in mass failure and school dropouts.

Though he admits it is a laudable one, the said manner in which it has been implemented is likely to make it backfire and therefore wants the government to take a second look at the flagship programme.

“It will be difficult to sustain the free SHS because the blueprint is not known. The NPP rushed into implementing the free SHS because it was a campaign promise. Not every campaign promise must be implemented in a rush because if this happens it will lead to mass failure and school dropouts”, he disclosed in an exclusive interview with mynesgh.com.

According to Mr Ayariga, government is toying with the lives of students because it is unable to determine the direction of the programme.

“We are playing with the lives of our students because we do not know where we are going and will never know when we will get there. These are the students who after the Senior High Schools are supposed to get admissions into tertiary institutions but because it is free and teachers are unwilling to teach properly because they are not properly motivated, students will fail. So we train them because it is free, they get there and cannot pass.”, he observed.

He also disclosed that the free SHS policy is not the brainchild of NPP but a constitutional requirement even though it was their campaign promise.

“It is in our constitution that Ghanaians must enjoy free SHS but they should thank their predecessors for building 123 SHS structures but for that they could not have achieved it within 8 months.

It is a good thing for the NPP to say they have started it, but the real implementation is yet to start but it is not free for everybody. It is only free for the brilliant students.

What happens to those who are made aggregate 30 and above? What about those in SHS 2 and 3, I call it scholarship scheme and not free SHS”, he intimated.