An Open Letter to H.E. John Dramani Mahama: Sir, Please Be Bold and Tackle the Problems of The Free SHS Policy Head-On

I am glad that following the loss of the governing New Patriotic Party in the 2024 general elections, one of the challenges of the Free Senior High School Policy has come to light - even before the President-Elect H.E John Dramani Mahama officially assumes office come January 8, 2025. This is the issue financing the Free SHS Policy.

Financing of the policy has always been a challenge - but the government carefully tried to cover up just to save their face in the past eight (8) years. It is therefore not surprising that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) issued a statement on December 10, 2025 explaining to the general public the reason for the delay in releasing 2024 WASSCE results. This is obviously an impediment to admission processes of public universities like KNUST, University of Ghana, University of Development Studies etc - which largely depend on the results for admission of first years for their academic year.

The WAEC, in a letter dated December 9, 2024, and signed by the Head of Public Affairs, John K. Kapi attributed the delay in release of the 2024 WASSCE results to the indebtedness of the Ministry of Education to the WAEC. The said outstanding balance of GHC118,000,000 is to be paid to ensure smooth running of the Post- WASSCE activities before results could be released. This indebtedness has been perennial - and I am glad the WAEC has been able to make a bold statement for Ghanaians to know exactly what has been going on. There are other aspects of the financial challenges; it is on record where several students and teachers across the country have complained about inadequate food supplies to schools; lack of funds to cater for administration of schools for example payment of utilities, lack of logistics to conduct internal examination and many more.

Financial challenges is just one of the several challenges the Free SHS has been faced with - and there are several others that could be discussed comprehensively. The Free SHS Policy obviously have some significant positive side - and I bless Nana Akufo-Addo for whatever good intention he and his government had for the country in investing so much into this policy to make it a reality. Regardless, having been a teacher at the Senior High School for more than a decade until my resignation in 2022, and having a first hand experience of how the policy was being run in schools across Ghana, from an honest and objective angle, I can say the Free SHS Policy in its current mode and system - has reduced the quality of education; affected discipline in our schools; reduced contact hours in schools; bred grounds for wholesale examination malpractices; and hence ‘miseducating’ a larger number of the students other than educating them.

I am therefore not addressing this issue based on speculations, but by credible facts and objective reasoning.

One thing that is important to address is the quality of food that students are served with in the boarding houses. Due to lack of adequate funding, the government is not able to provide balanced and good food to schools. There were many instances at my school, where some food items that were supplied were substandard and even at times rotten, which ought not be served to students, but matrons had no choice than to use them to prepare the food. Also for a long period of time before I resigned, breakfast was served without sugar - students had to bring their own sugar to the dining hall every morning for breakfast. Eggs, fish, meat and milk that in the past had been used by schools to supplement protein and other nutrient needs were largely not provided as it ought to - because the government could not supply them. It is apparent that the boarding fees (feeding fees) aspect of the policy is what is of huge problem to the government - and I think no magician can solve this problem by any any other means unless by dealing with it head-on, regardless of the political implication it may bring - to make the policy sustainable.

Also, Free SHS is the reason why there is very strict and unpractical procedure schools must adhere to - before a student is repeated - which was however not the case in the past. The government want to avoid the situation where schools keep populating just because non- performing students are not promoted to the next grade - so that the amount spent on the policy is kept from exceeding a certain range.

This mass promotion of students regardless of their academic performance has drastically reduced the quality of education over the years.

Another critique is that because the government wanted to create the picture that Free SHS has created the environment to give students peace of mind to study and also created better conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning - than the pre-SHS era, they (government) try to admonish the heads of schools to make sure their students pass the WASSCE Exams by whatever means - in order to deceive the public that the policy has improved performance of students. This has caused widespread examination malpractices during WASSCE examination - which would eventually breed habit of corruption among these young ones.

However, I do not intend by this write-up to discuss comprehensively the flaws and challenges the Free SHS Policy is faced with. A lot more than the few challenges that I have discussed above are obvious to every reasonable Ghanaian. And hence by this article, I seek to suggest solutions the government could employ to redirect the path of the Free SHS to make it; result oriented, effective, efficient, be able to target those who are actually in need of the freebies it gives - in order to reduce the economic burden it has on the nation in order for the policy to be sustained.

The basic issue a reasonable person would resolve:

The basic issue to be resolved is whether the cost of education of citizens of all social classes ought to be catered for by the government? Which social group should the government prioritise or have in mind in restructuring the policy? In answering this question, wisdom from a scripture in the Bible could be looked at: Matthew 25:35-46 - which reads “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me”. We could figure out that the scripture is touching on providing or meeting the needs of a person who is in need rather than a person who has resources in abundance.

So the question I always ask myself is that: “what would make a person want to pay a student’s fees for him or her”? or “why would one decide to give free food to someone”? The answer I guess is simple: food ought to be offered to or given to a person who is in need of it, and not to persons who have abundance of food in their homes. Likewise fees of persons and students who are in need are the ones that ought to be catered for, and not that of students from wealthy and affluent homes.

It could be reviewed based on these three(3) pillars:

1. Pay Fees For All Day Students Nationwide.

One may say that how would the government be able to distinguish between persons who are in need,and those who are not? I have experienced times in the past where parents had difficulty in paying admission fees for their wards - even when they just wanted to enrol them as day students in schools. And it is apparent that a parent who is at that point of need would be very grateful if a helper pays the admission fees for the ward to attend a day school in their neighbourhood - at no cost.

This is why I see as apt - the intention of the previous 2012-2016 John Mahama Government to build over hundred day schools across the country. These schools were strategically placed in communities which were lacking schools and also populated with a lot of people in need - so that if a parent finds it difficult in paying the fees of their wards - these schools were available for these students to be enrolled. And I am glad this 2012-2016 previous government actually started to put this intention in motion, and in 2015, all first year students who were admitted as day students were given free tuition. I think if the current 2016-2024 Akufo-Addo led government had taken that path, we would not have had all these challenges the Free SHS faces, and it would have been sustainable devoid of funding challenges.

Hence I am of the opinion that the 2024-2028 John Mahama led government should review the Free SHS Policy by paying for the fees of all day students - which may include: First year admission fees, supply of some books and stationary in the first year, supply of uniforms, payment of tuition fees for the three years and payment WASSCE registration fees. Literally, all that I am saying is that - once a parent decides to enrol his or her ward in a school as ‘day student status’, the government should pay for the total cost of the education for these day students till they complete school. And any other levy in the form of Parents Association dues made optional for all students - especially day students - so that a parent who is in need would be totally relieved of any burden. The government being relieved of the burden of paying for the boarding and feeding fees of these students, who but for this excellent idea would enrol as borders in schools, would be able to save billions of money and invest into infastructure and other important structures in schools to improve the quality of education without burdening or relying so much on parents to bulid infastructure for schools.

2. Cost Of Boarding Fees (Feeding Fees) To Be Paid By Parents.

A chunk of the budget (money) allocated to the Free SHS Policy every year is used to settle the boarding fees of students who are in the boarding houses in various schools. These include feeding fees, water bills, electricity costs and other administrative charges due to the presence of thousands of students hosted at one location.

I have always maintained that the Progressively Free SHS Policy that was started by the 2012-2016 Mahama led administration that targeted paying fees for all day students - was the best for the country. This module could be developed on, and probably in reviewing the current mode of the Free SHS Policy: Admission of all students, whether of ‘day status or boarding status’, admitted into senior high schools could be paid by the government - which may include uniforms, essential resources like books and some stationary provided by the government - so that nobody is left out.

However, in solving the main problem which has to do with funding, the government could reduce the amount of money it spends on the policy by making parents who would wish their wards to go to the boarding house to pay the feeding fees of their wards by themselves - in order to make it sustainable.

It is apparent that by that, the economic turmoil that the burden of paying for the boarding fees of all boarding students would be addressed. Since the implementation of Free SHS Policy, the practice has been that - in maintaining fiscal discipline, the government in turn surcharge citizens with taxes in various ways to be able to fund the policy. So what it means is that, at the end of the day, the government robs citizens of their hard earned monies and use same to pay the fees for their own wards. How free is this? It obviously is not. Free SHS Policy is merely in name - it is a platform to collect monies from parents, and pay fees of their wards for them. And because sometimes taxes are not equitable, it would feel like ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.

To reinforce this suggestion, I am also privy to scenarios where students who would have ordinarily enrolled as day students if their parents were to pay the fees by themselves would enrol into boarding schools just because of what the policy offers boarding students. Because of the free facilities offered to boarders in senior high schools, parents force their way by whatever means to get their wards into the boarding house. A number of these students sometimes live as close as within ‘100 metres to 500 metres’ neighbourhood of their preferred schools, and if these parents were to pay the boarding fees on their own, they would not have enrolled their wards at the boarding house - but would have opted for ‘day status’ for their wards to reduce cost of education. This is how unpatriotic and unjust some citizens have been - thus once the government is the one paying, they don’t apply wisdom in how they burden the government with these costs. This irrational advantage people take on the policy put a lot of pressure on the government, and funding becomes very difficult - because boarding fees is the most contributing factor of the financial challenges the Free SHS Policy is faced with.

3. Special Boarding Scholarships For Academic Excellent Students.

This is to be noted though that - the systemic and consistent way where students from diverse backgrounds are assembled at one location for the purpose of education - in turn consolidate the peace and harmony we enjoy as a nation. The multicultural and socio-religious diversity that boarding schools offer students - helps the youth to appreciate people from different backgrounds and beliefs - and there is no dispute that this has been one of the reasons over the years why the nation has enjoyed peace, distinguished one, among the nations in the African sub-region.

Hence I suggest that a certain level of allowance should be provided for handful of students from every district - not need based - but by academic merit be given special scholarships to enrol as boarders in some selected Grade A schools outside of their district - to experience the social diversity I touched on above. In implementing this, about hundred (100) students who highly performed in the BECE assessment exams from each district could be given special government scholarships to enrol in schools of their choice - outside their jurisdiction - once their raw score qualifies them into the school - to enrol as a boarder - in order to deepen the harmonious relations we enjoy as a nation.

In conclusion, the government could address the challenges of the Free SHS Policy by making parents who wish to enrol their wards into boarding schools to pay for the boarding fees (especially feeding fees) by themselves - and also make all who would want to enrol as day students in any school across the country, be enrolled to the school once they qualify per their raw score in the BECE assessment - without paying a penny. And in order to promote socio-religious and ethnic harmony among citizens of Ghana, special scholarships could also be given to about hundred students from each district to have the experience of schooling outside their jurisdiction - and this could be done strictly by academic merit( thus first one hundred best performed students from each district).

The government being relieved of the burden of paying for the boarding and feeding fees of these students, who but for this excellent idea would enrol as borders in schools, would be able to save billions of money and invest into infastructure and other important structures in schools to improve the quality of education without burdening or relying so much on parents to bulid infastructure for schools - which have directly and indirectly relied on these same people we classify as being in need - that we want to protect.

Also, to protect the interest of the parents who are in need, there ought to be strict measures in place to prevent these parents from being surcharged with any other levy. Thus, by this, any other levy in the form of ‘Parents Association’ dues be made optional for all students - especially day students - so that a parent who is in need would be totally relieved of any burden. By these, the Free SHS Policy would be able to serve the purpose of providing educational support of students are really in need - without burdening the government with so much financial cost - in order to make it sustainable.

We are all involved in building our nation.
May God bless our nation, Ghana, and make it great and strong.

Written by:
Yaw Mensah Asamoah (Samoa Mensa), Concerned citizen of Ghana.