Do not scrap Free SHS policy – Lecturer cautions political parties

Mr. Alexander Kaakyire Frempong, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, has cautioned political parties against reversing the Free SHS policy, should any of them win the 2020 elections.

According to him, the Free SHS policy, which has the massive support of Ghanaians, will help churn out more educated Ghanaians.

“It was clear from the findings that the Free SHS policy is the most admired by Ghanaians. And even with all the attendant problems, people supported it. And this is good because if this policy should go on, we are going to have many more educated Ghanaians. And if a large number of Ghanaians support this policy, then I think any party or aspiring party should be careful not to think of reversing it if Ghanaians like it so much”, he cautioned.

He admonished government to be proactive in addressing the challenges facing the Free SHS policy. He added that government should extend resources to tertiary education, arguing that tertiary institutions will be congested due to the projected increase in SHS graduates in 2020.

“There are problems and the government must be advised to deal with those problems, at the SHS level, but perhaps more significantly, the government should be more proactive and think ahead because, in 2020, the first free SHS graduates will be coming. And if they pass well and they cannot get the tertiary institutions to enter, there will be problems. So government should expand resources in the tertiary institutions to waiting for those students,” he affirmed.

Mr. Kaakyire Frempong was part of a research team that conducted a survey to assess democratic governance in Ghana and what voters had to say about the incumbent government. 5000 respondents from 250 electoral areas and 50 constituencies from the 10 regions participated in the survey.