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0 Professor Joshua Alabi, the former Rector of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), has urged the government to tread cautiously concerning the proposed Free Senior High School (SHS) bill.
The government is introducing the bill as part of moves to regulate and sustain the free senior high school policy.
This also comes in the wake of fears of a possible cancellation of the policy by future governments.
Prof. Joshua Alabi, the head of the NDC’s flagbearer campaign, told Accra-based Citi News on Thursday that the government must ensure regular review of the programme to optimise its effectiveness.
Prof Joshua Alabi
“In the first place we are not saying the Free SHS is not good. We have never said that all that we are saying is that the way it is being run is not the best for our people and that is why we kept in the word review and they told the whole world that we were going to stop it and that was just very unfortunate.
“Everything needs development, So, you can’t put something in the constitution which will just [be] cast in stone.”
“I think what we have to do is to make sure that we give an opportunity for reviews to develop and progress. So, I don’t know exactly what the bill is going to look like, but I think that we should tread cautiously,” he stated.
Afenyo-Markin justifies Free SHS bill
Meanwhile, Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has justified the move by the government, emphasising the authority of citizens to sue any future governments that may fail to implement it.
“If we consider what that means it becomes mandatory for governments to implement. Unless it is amended no government can come and say that it is not implementing.
“If you fail to continue to implement it a citizens can go to court on it,” Afenyo-Markin told journalists in Parliament on Tuesday, June 10.
He added, “I’m also able to report that the Education Minister will present the Free SHS Bill to Parliament. The 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,” he said.
The post Free SHS Bill: Gov’t should tread cautiously – Joshua Alabi first appeared on 3News.
