Parents' Coalition welcomes Mahama's promise to extend Free SHS to private schools

A promise by the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress to extend the Free Senior High School initiative to private institutions has been warmly received by the Coalition of Parents of Students in Private Institutions.

According to the coalition, the policy if implemented will help relieve parents of their financial burden.

The group said in a press release that every Ghanaian child has a right to free education whether in private or public schools.

It, therefore, expressed optimism that in the event that John Dramani Mahama wins the December 7 polls, he will honour his promise to them.

“Every child in Ghana deserves the best of care and a piece of the national cake. We are very optimistic that this promise will come true,” he said.

The Coalition then urged its members to show interest in the upcoming elections and support the fruition of this idea and follow up on its implementation.

“These are our rights and nobody should stop us from enjoying them. We are urging our students in private institutions to have hope, that this country will not disappoint them and that, the war of life sometimes begins with difficult battles and it is only those who preserver that succeed.”

The extension of the Free SHS to private second cycle institutions is one of the promises made by the NDC in its manifesto.

The NDC said that it will improve the Free SHS policy, scrap the doubletrack system and make students of private schools beneficiaries of the project.

“We plan to make the Free SHS more inclusive by expanding it to cover students in private senior high schools in under-served and deprived parts of the country,” Professor Jane Naana Opoku said at the manifesto launch.