The Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies, Peter Anti says government needs a sustainable stream of income to fund its flagship Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.

According to him, the amount invested in education is of little concern, however, “we are worried about where the money is coming from and whether that money is sustainable."

Speaking to Benjamin Akakpo on JoyNews’ AM Show, Monday, Mr. Anti indicated that government needs to understand that the country’s oil revenue cannot be used to continue funding the Free SHS policy.

“Out of the amount of money spent so far on free education, 50 percent is generated from the oil resources and we have said that that is not a source we can rely on. Looking at the nature of the oil market, you can project that it cannot always finance the Free SHS policy.

“So we need to have that kind of sustainability debate. We need to start talking about how we can finance this policy beyond this kind of resource we have at our disposal.

“We have to make sure there is a constant stream of income which will not be based on the commitment of a politician”, he explained.

He said a number of recommendations have been made to the Education Ministry on sustainable funding for Free SHS but they are yet to be considered.

Touching on the issue of poor infrastructure at the various senior high schools, Mr. Anti said urgent improvements must be made.

“If we look at the data from the Ministry of Education, it gives you an indication of the number of schools that need moderate repairs, those that need complete repairs, and those that need some finishing touches here and there.”

“These are information available to the ministry and we think that they should be able to work on it and improve on the infrastructure in the education sector,” he stated.