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Policy think tank, Danquah Institute (DI), has called on Ghanaians to welcome government’s flagship programme, the Free Senior High School (SHS), and to contribute ideas to make it work.

The Free SHS which begun on Monday, 11 September 2017 was a key campaign promise of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the 2016 election.

Danquah Institute, in a statement said education is important to promote both personal and societal growth and therefore entreated all Ghanaians to “put politics aside and commend the Akufo-Addo-led administration for making the promised Free Senior High School a reality”.

According to the Institute, the policy will benefit every Ghanaian regardless of ethnicity, religious affinity, and political affiliation.

The think tank said there are so many students whose talents or gifts have, over the years, been buried as a result of their inability to continue their education after completing junior high school, and so it is hoped that, with the implementation of the Free SHS policy, the country will benefit from the knowledge, ability and unique skills of these students to make the nation better and stronger.

“As a result of the importance of this policy in benefitting students, parents, and the nation, we would like to encourage the citizenry to come on board to contribute ideas to make it work. At this stage of our development, we need ideas to make progress, solutions to our problems, and not deliberate attempts that maintain the status quo or draw us back. Questions that seek answers to make the policy work should be our singular and major preoccupation, and not reasons that will make us renege on this laudable policy intervention. For example, how do we ensure that the policy is sustained, which of our resources could be leveraged to support it, should there be a special levy, for example that targets pre-tertiary education, portion of which should be used to support the policy, how do we deal with the expected increase in enrolment in the coming years? This should be our attitude towards the policy: it is positive attitude that defines success and progress,” the statement said.

The Institute urged government to continue to think in novel ways and engage stakeholders in order to ensure the sustenance of the policy by identifying and addressing any potential threat that can undermine or compromise its effectiveness, and opportunities that will ensure its success.

The Free Senior High School policy is meant to improve access at the senior high schools, provide opportunity for the disadvantaged to obtain senior secondary school education, and to unearth or discover talents.