A Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Clement Apaak, has expressed his displeasure about the government’s alleged discriminatory funding of education in favour of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.
The Builsa South lawmaker intimated that budgetary allocation toward basic education has been dwindling since the introduction of the Free SHS policy, which he said is negatively impacting both enrolment and management of schools at the basic level.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Citi TV and Citi FM, Mr. Apaak said the budgetary breakdown reveals a “very disturbing downward trend” for basic education funding.
“When the CSOs say there is some form of discrimination in terms of education funding in favour of secondary education as opposed to primary education, they are not just saying it, but there is data and information to support that argument because if you look at educational funding and if you look at the breakdown, it is very clear that since the inception of the Free SHS policy, while the funding toward secondary education has been increasing, the funding for basic education has been dwindling.”
He called for deliberate and urgent measures to address the alleged discriminatory allocations to save the public basic education system which he said is on the verge of collapsing.
“Basic education is fundamental, and it is the bedrock and the foundation and so you cannot purport to be building ultramodern junior high schools, building ultramodern senior high schools, and even creating more access at the tertiary level when your public basic school system is collapsing.”
“How do you expect public basic schools to function when they don’t have textbooks, capitation grants have not been paid for six terms and what that means is that basic items like chalk, attendance registers, fixing broken down furniture, and dilapidated buildings, sporting activities cannot be supported,” Mr. Apaak further lamented.
Source: citinewsroom.com
