NAGRAT lauds free SHS policy, but urges caution

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has expressed mixed feelings about the introduction of the free SHS policy.

The President of NAGRAT, Christian Addai-Poku, says though the policy is laudable, it has a lot of question marks.

President Mahama on Thursday launched the policy when he commissions the Otuam Community Day High School. The move is in fulfillment of the President's promise to build 200 senior high schools across the country. 50 schools were to be built by August this year to facilitate the implementation of the policy.

Over Three Thousand day students are expected to benefit from the programme, which would abolish tuition fees in public schools.

The beneficiary students were selected from 591 schools in all regions.

Day students who are already covered by other forms of scholarship schemes are not beneficiaries of the progressively free scholarship policy.

However, the President of NAGRAT wonders whether adequate measures have been put in place to accommodate the expected increase in enrolment in terms of infrastructure and personnel.

On the seemingly increase in examination malpractices, Mr. Addai Poku expressed disappointment in WAEC for failing to put in place robust measures to check these occurrences.