Grant arrears to SHSs in north to be paid in less than 48 hours

Heads of Senior High Schools in the three regions of the north, can expect to heave a sigh of relief following government's pledge to pay accumulated feeding grants debts by Tuesday.

Deputy Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum revealed on Joy FM 's Super Morning Show Monday that "all schools in the north 
are going to get their grants tomorrow".

He could not indicate the size of the arrears but about GHS184.8million has been outstanding since the beginning of 2017.

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Schools (CHASS) would be pleased to hear the latest commitment after its President, Mrs Cecilia  Kwakye Cofie at the 55th annual conference last week, begged the government to pay the debt.

The non-payment of the accumulated Feeding Grants over two terms has been a huge source of frustration to school heads over the years.

Schools postponed the re-opening date for January 2017, citing the non-payment of the debt.

Without the monies, schools cannot feed their students. Credit lines from food suppliers to the several schools have been cut due to piling up of arrears.

The Deputy Minister said the government cannot demand accountability from school heads when they are distracted from the core mandate because of government's failure to execute its feeding grant policy.

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum lamented that "headmasters go through hell. Schools start and they threaten to close."

"If the headmaster is so much preoccupied with the need for money, looking for a loan when he is to be in the classrooms observing teachers"

But Ghana now has a "Champion for education" in the person of President Nana Akufo-Addo, the Deputy Minister said.

"We are going to see Ghana's finest moments when it comes to education," he said, explaining, the Education Ministry and that of Finance have made a commitment to paying bills on time.

He said Ghanaians and stakeholders in the education sector should expect a "serious paradigm shift in education funding in terms of timeliness and even the amounts."

Government is paying more than GHS 240million for the first term of school for over 400,000 students as part of its free senior high school education policy.

The Deputy Minister is unperturbed by the hefty education bill because of the President's "fierce determination" to ensure school fees is no longer a barrier for parents.

He said if the government is able to tackle public sector corruption and improve financial accountability in the public service, it should find the money to fund the policy.

Dr Yaw Adutwum said blowing $72million on a SSNIT IT infrastructure does not engender confidence of the people in the government.

But under the Akufo-Addo government, Ghanaians have a "good government that does good things" 

He said the government would not shy away from asking Ghanaians for more money to fund free SHS in the future if it is satisfied that it has been prudent, transparent and accountable in the use of existing funds.

"If the resources are not there... you go to the good people of Ghana and tell them that as a government we have done everything possible; we have used our resources well [and] there are issues so let us talk about how to mobilise other sources of funding then it makes sense".

The Deputy Minister vowed that as long as the Akufo-Addo government remains in power, free SHS has come to stay.

"How do you start this and make it collapse?".

 

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