120,000 students would have been home but for Free SHS - Deputy Minister

Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has disclosed, about one hundred and twenty thousand students would have missed the opportunity to access senior high school (SHS) education this year, but for the government’s free Senior High School intervention.

According to the Deputy Minister of Education, available data showed in excess of one hundred thousand students annually lost the chance to access SHS education due to financial difficulties and other related challenges.

Dr. Osei Adutwum revealed, in the Northern part of the country, an average of between eight and ten per cent of students placed in SHS by the computerized school selection system was unable to pursue their education because of the existence of feeding grant.

He was speaking to host of Abusua Nkommo, Kwame Adinkra while responding to issues emanating from issues affecting the enrollment of fresh students into the various senior high schools under the government’s flagship Free S.H.S program.

The Minister observes, the average figure for the Southern part was however between thirty to thirty-five per cent and he attributed this to an inability of the parents to pay the school fees.

“That a school should record 70 per cent failure at an examination should not be countenanced by anyone” he added.

The Deputy Minister has however given an assurance that the Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP), started by the previous government would be continued to help improve the quality of teaching and learning.