GHC150m released for Free SHS

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Deputy Minister of Education, has revealed that the Ministry of Finance has disbursed an amount of GHS150 million to all senior high schools across the country for the implementation of the Free SHS programme.

This is contrary to claims by a Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, that her ministry has released an amount of GHS240 million for the exercise.

Ms Osei-Asare told journalists last week that: “All we are waiting for is for the Ministry of Education to tell us the various numbers that have been placed in each school and based on that, we will go ahead and transfer the monies. By Friday [today], the money should hit all the accounts we have been provided with.

“For the GHc486 million, it is ready and we have issued the first part, that is the 50 per cent.”

But speaking in an interview with Accra 100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom host, Chief Jerry Forson, on Monday, September 11 Dr Adutwum said: “So far, GHS150 million has been released to the schools for the implementation of the programme.”

The Akufo-Addo-led government’s flagship programme begins today, Monday, 11 September as first-year students who were successfully placed in various senior high schools across the country report officially.

The placement into senior high schools has been fraught with hitches this year, with several thousands of prospective students still struggling to get admission.