Dr. Charles Aheto-Tsegah, a former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has voiced serious concerns about the management of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, attributing its challenges to poor management practices in schools. While acknowledging that the Free SHS policy, introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration, has improved access to education for many, Dr. Aheto-Tsegah noted that operational difficulties continue to undermine its success. The Mahama administration has since pledged to review the policy to address these issues.
In an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Channel One TV’s Face to Face, Dr. Aheto-Tsegah pointed out how centralized management has weakened the authority of headmasters in senior high schools.
He explained that headmasters, who are responsible for the effective operation of their schools, have been stripped of crucial decision-making powers. He also criticized the limited oversight headmasters have over key aspects of school administration, such as meal management and the replacement of learning materials like torn books. Dr. Aheto-Tsegah emphasized that these restrictions have created inefficiencies and negatively impacted the overall success of the Free SHS policy.
Dr. Aheto-Tsegah called for a thorough review of the policy’s implementation framework to empower school authorities and address the pressing challenges that threaten the sustainability of Free SHS.
“In answering his [Mahama] direct question on what is wrong with Free SHS, I would tell him that it is the management of secondary schools. Once the management of secondary schools was taken away from the headmasters who had a responsibility to ensure that their schools worked, then we undermined the authority of the headmaster. In terms of ensuring that everything in the school system worked.
“if you refuse them in terms of directing what kind of meals should be prepared for the students, then you are taking a big chunk of the work away from them.
“If you refuse them from deciding what kind of meals the children can eat, you are taking away a strong power from them in terms of their feeding. If you don’t give them the right to decide on how to ensure that there are regular replacements for torn books and all of those things, You’re affecting them.
“If you refuse to allow them the chance to literally have control over the teachers who teach in the schools for them to decide whether a teacher can continue to be in that school. You have taken a big chunk of the whole administrative thing from them.”
By: Leticia Osei
