NDC Protests Against Free SHS Bill

In an update, the current largest opposition party in Ghana, NDC, has been recognized to be preparing its grounds to fight majority in Parliament as the NPP-led administration intends to pass a free SHS Bill.

The intended purpose of the free senior high school bill is to ensure that the free senior high school policy is sustainable in the long term.

This strategic move by the Nana Addo-led administration comes as many concerns has been raised that there would be a possible cancellation of the Free SHS Policy due to its unending challenges.

The Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, on Tuesday, disclosed the information asserting that the bill seeks to make the policy more effective and sustainable, aligning with the aspirations outlined in Chapter 5 of the Constitution.

The majority leader elaborated that even though there is no provision that makes this move enforceable, the government hopes to make the free SHS bill justifiable through supportive legislation.

“I’m also able to report that the Education Minister will present the Free SHS Bill to Parliament. Chapter five of the Constitution provides some aspirational indicative.

Those are not justiciable, but once by a policy of the government, an aspiration as a message by the constitution is put into action then to make it justiciable, you enact.”

“In other words, there are provisions in the constitution that you cannot enforce, you cannot claim the right to those provisions. The fact that they are there does not mean that you can apply to the court to enforce those rights, they are aspirational.”

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NDC against Free SHS Bill

But the opposition party, NDC, which sponsored 50 adverts against the Free Senior High School introduction by President Akufo-Addo, then opposition leader says it’s unnecessary to present the free senior high School bill to Parliament to pass and legislate it.

The Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr. Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, who is also an NDC core member and also a ranking member of the Education Committee in Parliament described the current move by government to pass the free SHS bill as unnecessary.

According to him, “there is no need for any law to regulate or entrench the Free SHS programme. As a committee on education, we have asked the previous minister and the current one that we want to see a Free Senior High School policy or document and for seven to eight years now we have not been able to provide the committee with the policy document. If you don’t even have a policy on what basis are you going to pass the law?

“In any case, the constitution has a provision, Act 25 (1b) that secondary education in all forms including technical and vocational should be progressively made free and that is what we started in 2015”

“So, for this government to have come to office and implemented it as they wanted, I don’t think any Ghanaian has a problem with that. For me, enacting a law as to protect it or whatever is neither here nor there,” he said.

Speaking on Citi FM, Mr. Peter Nortsu-Kotoe made references to the constitution’s provision, Act 25 (1b), which mandates that secondary education, including technical and vocational training, should be progressively made free—a process that began in 2015 by the NPP government.

The NDC MP suggested that the current government’s implementation of the Free SHS policy meets public expectations, indicating that further legal protections are unnecessary.

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