University Of Education Winneba To Admit More FREE SHS Beneficiaries In 2020

The Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Prof. Father Anthony Afful-Broni, has said the university would admit more free Senior High School (SHS) beneficiaries in 2020.

This he said is the university’s way of supporting the free SHS programme.

“Indeed, to show our strong commitment to the government's vision of providing expanded access to high tertiary education through the Free SHS policy, this University has taken practical steps to absorb the huge number of applicants that will seek admission during the 2020 academic year when the first batch of the free SHS students will be due to enter University,” he added.

Mr. Afful-Broni also commended the government for implementing the free SHS programme saying it is one of the best policies in the educational sector.

“We must emphasize that the Free SHS is one of the boldest and best educational policy initiatives that our nation has seen,” he said.

Mr. Afful-Broni was speaking at a meeting with the chiefs and people of Efutu in the Central Region.

He used the opportunity to encourage the people of Efutu to take advantage of the free SHS programme to ensure that as many children as possible get access to high school education.

The acting UEW Vice-Chancellor said the university is committed to the cause of the free SHS programme as well as the double track educational system.

He said, for this reason; the university is readying itself to enroll more students from the free SHS programme who would complete in Senior High School in 2020.

“We in UEW are committed to the cause of Free SHS and also to the expanding initiative of the Double-Track system to absorb the overwhelming number of qualified candidates who otherwise would have been left behind or would have truncated their pursuit of high school education just because of unavailability of space.”

About free SHS, double track system
The free SHS programme began in 2017 with the aim of giving senior high school students free access to education.

However, lack of adequate infrastructure compelled the government to adopt the double track system to enroll even more students via double intakes and on semester basis beginning September 2018.

Government about two weeks ago released a list of Senior High Schools that will be captured under the much-touted double-track system of enrollment.

Some 400 out of the 696 public SHSs have been selected to operate the system.

The schools will accommodate the over 180,000 students who are expected to gain admission into SHS this year.

This, the government says will ensure the fulfillment of its promise of providing equal opportunity for every Ghanaian child to gain access to secondary education.