Bridging the gap between poor, rich through Free SHS

The free senior high school (FSHS) policy has been described as one of the audacious and laudable decisions taken by any government under the Fourth Republic.

Anytime the policy got into the public space, it got tongues wagging. Among the experts, educationists and legal brains, issues about funding and quality made many to conclude that it was highly impossible to implement such a policy.

But article 25 (b) of the 1992 Constitution states clearly that “Secondary education in its different forms including technical and vocational education shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education.”

Hence after its campaign promise in 2012 and 2016, the Akufo-Addo government finally rolled out the flagship programme in September 2017 with an amount of GH¢486 million.

It was officially launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the West Africa SHS (WASS) at Adenta in the Greater Accra Region on September 12, 2017.
 
Meaning of policy

By the policy, every Ghanaian entering any SHS in any part of the country will enjoy free tuition, admission fee, textbooks, library fees, science centre fees, fees for ICT, examination fee, payment of utility fee, and boarding and meals.

This means all fees will be absorbed, with the expansion in physical infrastructure in schools to accommodate the increase in enrolment.

To reiterate the President’s points, “Let me take this opportunity to spell out clearly what we intend to do, so that no one in Ghana is left in any doubts. By free SHS, we mean that in addition to tuition, which is already free, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no science centre fees, no computer lab fees, no examination fees, no utility fees; there will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free.

“Free SHS will also cover agricultural, vocational and technical institutions at the high school level. I also want to state clearly again that we have a well-thought out plan that involves the building of new public senior high schools.”

Indeed, free education is a good concept. This is because it will give every Ghanaian child, regardless of the economic status of parents, the opportunity to have a secondary education — it will create a well-informed society and as a result empower the citizens to appreciate national policies necessary to propel economic growth and development.
 
Free SHS and SDGs

The free SHS policy is in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Four, Target One, which states: “By 2030, all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education, leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.”

It also stipulates that by 2030, all girls and boys will have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education, so that they are ready for primary education.
Some countries around the world provide either free education or some form of reliefs in the educational sector to ease the burden on parents or guardians.

Denmark provides universal free education in addition to monthly stipends for its students. Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Turkey and Uruguay provide free education at all levels, including college and university for its citizens.

Benefits

Even though the policy is not new in some parts of the world, Ghana’s Free SHS programme effectively marks the end of the era when financial constraints were a barrier to the aspirations of children who wanted secondary education in the country.

Thus, it bridges the gap between the rich and the poor where every child has a chance of being selected and placed in any school of their choice in any part of the country without their parents paying any amount.

This will also go a long way to cure the phenomenon of school drop-outs.

Statistics available indicate that on the average more than 140,000 students are either not placed by the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) or placed but do not enrol, largely because of financial barriers, every year.

Success so far

So far, the policy has been successful even though it has encountered some challenges.

In terms of infrastructure, the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said the government has constructed new school blocks in a lot of the secondary schools across the country.

At the Kumasi Secondary Technical School, two sets of four storey dormitory blocks which accommodates about 600 students have been constructed.

The introduction of the Double Track System has also made it possible for a lot of students to have access to secondary education.

In view of that, the 2016 enrolment figure of 285,000 jumped to 440,000 in 2018 alone.

The Free SHS Policy is a laudable initiative that must be given the needed backing to succeed even beyond this government.