Free SHS – ASASCO Headmaster Laments Delay In The Release Of Funds

The Headmaster for Asamankese Senior High School (ASASCO), Rev. Samuel Manphasis Adjei Munyuhitum, has lamented Government’s delay in releasing funds to the school under the Free SHS arrangement.

On Tuesday Rev. Munyuhitum told the media that, managing the school has become extremely difficult due to financial resultant financial challenges, as the Akufo Addo administration’s famed free education policy disintegrates.

“The concern we have is the inability of funds to be released for the Free Senior high school program to run successfully. As we speak we have started the second semester for form three. Recurrent expenditure for the first semester has not been paid. Even the feeding aspect of it only 25% came the first time, another 25% and that is all,” he lamented.

He adds that even though students have returned to school, his school, along with many in the Eastern Region do not have the means to procure even the most basic necessities for teaching, warning the state of affairs does not augur well for education.

“First-year students have come, they’ve spent 14 days not a pesewa. So for how long can we continue to have successful teaching and learning outcomes when we don’t have the funds to purchase the little things like maker boards and teaching and learning materials in the classrooms. For how long can we continue and expect the best from the system. It is only an appeal that whoever is concerned, whoever has the power to release the funds should ensure that the schools have the funds,” the distressed headmaster laments.

He cried that the delay in the release of funds has constrained the school’s administration to improvise, with a seven-unit classroom block, for instance, being converted into a dormitory for the girl students.

“The first challenge that we have is the girl’s dormitory block that has been abandoned since 2008 till today the contractor has not come back. It has reached the roofing level. My concern is that let us roof it so that the students can benefit from the structure, and to me, it is a huge concern. Taxpayers money-wasting,” he said.

Reportedly, ASASCO is not the only school going through difficulties because of the delays in the release of Free SHS funds to schools. Other schools in the country are going through similar challenges.

However, the government’s reputation for victimizing headteachers who speak up about the challenges of the Free SHS program has forced many of them to shut up and suffer in silence.