More concerns are emerging about challenges bedeviling the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme.

A headmaster who spoke on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Wednesday, May 26, on condition of anonymity, said headteachers stay mute to avoid being transferred to remote areas.

“If you speak up, they frustrate you. You’ll be transferred to a district office or to a place where you may not like because you’re telling the truth.”

Citing an example, he said “the one that comes to mind is the Nungua Presby headmaster who appealed for furniture. He was taken away and the situation still persists.”

Headmaster John, as he was referred to for the purpose of the interview, said that his colleague teachers are afraid to voice out their plights for fear of being victimised.

He said that the high number of students enrolled in the Free SHS programme has resulted in inadequate accommodation facilities forcing some students to sleep on the floor.

Answering a question on this development, Headmaster John said, "they sleep on the floor. It’s a normal thing. Congestion is all over. It’s a common phenomenon we are facing."

Touching on challenges related to food supply, he said, “formerly, heads were buying food from the local market and feeding their students with whatever fees they were paying. But now we have to wait on the buffer stock company to supply food but they delay."

According to him, the situation has been worsened by the delay in the release of funds, “Since school resumed in March, no funds have been released for the form 1 students,” he said.

He added that consequently, school authorities on various occasions have had to cater for the needs of the students from their own coffers.

“The food situation is alarming. What is worrying is that, because of upward adjustment in prices, food suppliers are not willing to bring the items. They bring them to you in reduced quantities and if you reject them, the students will go hungry,” he said.

The free SHS program which took off in 2017 has been widely hailed as a game-changer as more than a million students currently have access to second cycle education with government bearing the cost.

The purpose of the policy was to reduce poverty and to increase the literacy rate among the youth in the country.

In 2018, the double-track system was introduced as part of the Free SHS Education Policy to enable the various senior high schools in the country to admit more students so that all eligible students will gain access to education.