Free SHS: 30% of elite school places reserved for deprived students - Napo

At least 30 percent of places in the country’s elite Senior High Schools will be reserved solely for students from public schools and deprived communities under the NPP’s flagship Free SHS policy, Minister for Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh has revealed.

According to the Minister, the move is to ensure that children from deprived schools and communities are also given equal opportunity to benefit from quality education and make use of the good facilities in these elite schools to realize their potential.

“To demonstrate government’s commitment towards the implementation of the policy, I am happy to inform you that an implementation committee has been inaugurated to advise and guide the rolling out of the free SHS policy”, the Minister noted.

Speaking at the 2017 MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program annual learning summit, Dr. Opoku Prempeh asserted that the underpinning philosophy of the Akufo-Addo led government’s flagship Free SHS policy that, no child will be denied the opportunity of senior high school education by reason of their family’s financial circumstances.



Government’s collaboration with MIT, Camfed

The Minister also revealed that government will collaborate with Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT to equip the youth with employable skills to mitigate the unemployed rate in the country.

He added that government will continue to collaborate and work with Camfed to enhance access to quality education for all Ghanaian children of school-going age.

‘Government therefore appreciates the support and role of development partners such as Camfed whose interventions in the education sector have enabled many children in the country to have an education.’ He noted.