President of the Paediatric Society of Ghana, Dr Hilda Mantebea Boye, has advised the government to consider a stakeholder engagement to review the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

According to her, despite the countless successes the policy has achieved, recent concerns from parents, teachers, and beneficiaries of the policy indicate that it is high time the policy is re-evaluated.

Contributing to JoyNews’ National Dialogue on the Free SHS Promise on Thursday, March 21, she said “Everybody here has acknowledged that it's been largely successful. But it's not been without the challenges that have been mentioned. And definitely we are seeing those challenges because of how it was implemented too. So where do we move from here? I think that it's time for us to sit together.

“Have the right people, all stakeholders, together to have conversations. Definitely, everybody wants all children to have good access to education. We want them to be able to do well. But then parents are stakeholders.

“Teachers are stakeholders. The government is also a major stakeholder. We are seeing that these are some of the problems that are coming out of this policy that has been implemented over the years. How do we move forward from here.”

Dr Boye explained that before the decision to introduce the policy was made, it should have undergone initial pilot stages before a wholesale implementation.

If this approach had been followed, she believes some of the problems could have been avoided.

Nevertheless, following several concerns raised about the quality of meals students were served in schools, and if the government would at least give heed to these concerns, the policy could be improved.

The President of the  Paediatric Society argued that the struggles of the Free SHS policy clearly show that there was a need for consultation. She insisted that this was the best approach to resolving these key concerns.

 “The other issue, if you look at the documentary that was shared, you can see that a lot of people were going anonymous. People are afraid, some people are afraid to speak up openly, due to some cases in the media about people being removed and all that from office. There should be openness. There should be a lot of transparency. There is something that affects all of us. And indeed, there are parents who are unable to afford rightly so, and there are some who say that they are willing to pay so that their children do not suffer hunger in school or overcrowding and all that does not become a problem.

“So, if we have a platform where all these people have a voice, that is where we will find all the solutions."