There is simmering anger in various Senior High schools in the Eastern region over the seeming waste of taxpayers’ money by the government on printing free SHS branded T-shirts for Senior High school students.
So far, 41,215 of these t-shirts have been distributed to SHS and TVET institutions in the Eastern region.
Each of the about 100 schools had 416 as the first consignment as more of the T-shirts are expected to arrive for distribution.
However, when contacted on phone, the Public Relations Officer at the Eastern Regional Education Directorate, Asiedu Acheampong smartly denied knowledge of the distribution of such t-shirts to any school.
He said, “What I am aware of is branded Cardigan of the various schools but for free SHS t-shirts I am not aware so if you can send a picture of it to me and the name of the school you took the pictures from”.
However, the Regional Supply officer at the Regional Directorate of GES, Daniel Ayertey when pushed by journalist Obed Kojo Ansah explained that the t-shirts were brought from Free SHS Secretariat at the Presidency late last year to be distributed to the students free of charge.
He said the region received 41,215 pieces as the first consignment but because the stores are full decided to release it to the schools to use their discretion to share with the students as the region awaits other consignments.
The t-shirts are being procured by the Free Senior High School Secretariat at the office of the Presidency.
The cost of procuring the t-shirts is not known, however, the average cost of printing a T-shirt in Ghana ranges between Ghc20 to Ghc60 each depending on the quality and discount based on the number of printing.
According to the Ministry of Education, currently, there are 827,193 continuing students in the second and third-year SHSs.
According to the ministry, an estimated 447,219 first-year students had so far enrolled this academic year.
Using the average printing price of Ghc30 per T-shirt to calculate printing of the Free SHS t-shirts to the about 1,274,412 students currently in school means the government is spending an average of GHc38,232,360 to print the T-shirts.
However, some headmasters and teachers told Starr News, that even though the t-shirts are free for the students, the printing cost is not free, and that the amount could have been used for something important to the schools.
The introduction of the free SHS policy has increased average enrolment in SHSs from about 800,000 in 2015 to 1.2 million in 2021, with the double-track system.
However, the policy has been bedeviled by financial challenges and delays in the supply of food to the schools many if difficult for heads of second cycle institutions to run the schools smoothly.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
