Free SHS: Ghana’s Greatest Educational Policy Of All Time

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” - Nelson Mandela

The above saying by one of Africa’s great personalities aptly sums up the relevance of education in whatever way one would like to look at it from.

In the run up to the 2016 General Election, the current President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, promised to implement a Free SHS policy, and most pessimists, particularly, many in the opposition parties and some opinion leaders perceived this as only a mirage.

Their argument was that the initiative would be too costly for the nation to implement and, therefore, its sustenance would pose difficulties in the long run.

Lo and behold, and as fate would have it, Ghanaians decided to give the mandate to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and in pursuance of their campaign promises, the Free SHS has become a reality.

“Today, we throw open the doors of opportunity and hope to our young people… We have a sacred duty to our children and the generations beyond in ensuring that, irrespective of their circumstances, their right to education is preserved”, the President said to an ecstatic crowd at the West Africa Senior High School premises at Adenta, near Accra, during the official launch of the policy in September, this year.

“I want every Ghanaian child to attend secondary school not just for what they learn in books, but for the life experiences that they will gain. I want each of them to look in the mirror in the morning, every morning, and know that they can achieve anything they dream of when they complete their studies.

“I want them to be confident that what they study is relevant to the demands of today, and of tomorrow. I want every Ghanaian child to be comfortable in the knowledge that, when they work hard, they will be as capable as anyone else in the world. And I want parents to look upon their children with pride, as they watch them mature into self-adults”, the President said.

Since the implementation of the policy, many are those who had hailed the novelty programme, especially, the needy, parents, students, technocrats and educational experts – describing the initiative as “God-sent”.

“We are very grateful to the government for responding to the needs of the poor as we can also now send our children to school without thinking of paying any exorbitant fees”, Maame Konadu Osei, a second hand cloth dealer and beneficiary of the policy told this newspaper in an interview.

According to the UNICEF, the number one reason parents cite for having their children out of school in Ghana is poverty. “A poor girl from a rural area is two times more likely to be excluded from education than a boy from a rich urban household”.

The increasing cost of education and persistent phenomenon of school dropout has become a constant worry to stakeholders in the educational sector, a report by the Ghana Education Service has said.

The report stated that children between 8 and 17 years have lost interest in education and these were attributed to socio-economic and cultural barriers.

Some beneficiary students who also spoke to us were elated by the development, promising to work hard in pursuance of their educational careers.

Master Calvin Nyarko-Mensah, a first year General Arts Student of the Kumasi Anglican Senior High School (KASS), indicated that he has been motivated since he began to enjoy the policy and hoped the government would not relent in continuing with the policy.

On his part, a first year Science Student of the Prempeh College, Master Emmanuel Amponsah, was appreciative of the bold initiative taken by the government as it will ensure that more needy but brilliant students get enrolled into the school for their own benefit.

In another interview, Mrs. Cassandra Twum-Ampofo, Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), acknowledged the fact that even though there were teething problems with the implementation of the policy, it was normal with any new initiative and that, those challenges were surmountable.

The new policy, she said, had brought in its wake, a sharp increase in the admission of students to the various second cycle institutions, increased work load for teaching staff and over-stretching of infrastructure such as dormitories.

A visit to some schools, including the Osei Kyeretwie SHS, Kofi Agyei SHS and Agona SDA SHS, all in the Ashanti Region confirmed the problems associated with the initiative as some of the students had been forced to sleep in pairs.

It is an undeniable fact that countries that achieved economic success and progressed rapidly made education central to their development. There is no substitute to education.

Going forward, it is heartwarming to note that efforts had been stepped up to ensure sustainable funding for the programme.

The recent move by the government to borrow US$40 million from the International Development Association (IDA), an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), in support of secondary school projects is a step in the right.

It would go a long way to enhance funding of the free SHS to boost human resource development.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku-Prempeh, in a recent interview with the media in Kumasi, urged stakeholders to be supportive of the government in realizing the noble objectives of the free SHS concept.

More importantly, it behooves school authorities to also brace up for the initial challenges - inadequate accommodation, increased workload for teaching staff and other teething problems for the benefit accommodation facilities, increased workload for teaching staff and other teething problems for the benefit of the nation.