Free SHS: 2024 records highest first-year enrollment of 503,000 – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the "greatest challenge" in Ghana remains providing good quality education to all Ghanaian children and young people.

Speaking at Ghana's 67th Independence Day anniversary at Koforidua in the Eastern Region on Wednesday, 6 March 2024, Nana Akufo-Addo said: "We have a lot to be proud of, but we have more work to do.

"I am happy that, through the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, we are removing financial barriers to education, unlocking the potential of thousands of young Ghanaians, and laying the foundation for a brighter future for our country.

"This year, we have seen the highest ever enrolment of first-year students into senior high school in our nation's history, that is five hundred and three thousand (503,000) students, a clear indication of the widespread embrace of the Free Senior High School Policy", he announced.

Mr Akufo-Addo said: "We should be able to offer every Ghanaian child the best education there can be, and, having completed High School, our children should be equipped with skills that make them prepared to face the modern world. Our schools must prepare our children to be comfortable with Science and Technology and ready to compete in the modern economy".

He noted that "there is more to preparing a child to face the world than what can be taught in a classroom, and there is certainly more to moulding a Ghanaian child than what our hard-working teachers do every day", complaining: "Too many parents have relinquished the entire responsibility of bringing up children to what happens in schools".

"I do not refer only to our music, dance, food, language and fashion that form the basis of our cultural identity; I refer to the values that set us apart as Ghanaians. If we are to take pride in being Ghanaian, there should be a consensus on the values we hold dear, and we should transmit them to every generation," he stressed.