Free SHS challenges won’t disrupt programme – Akufo-Addo assures

President Nana Akufo-Addo has promised to ensure that free Senior High School (SHS) programme is sustained despite teething challenges.

“Everything new, when it starts has problems. But if you don’t start you can’t progress so we have taken the first step. The issues about infrastructure school classrooms, logistics, we are going to deal with those. But we can only deal with them because we have started,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo’s flagship education policy gained global acclaim when it launched in September this year amidst criticism at home.

he opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party says the initiative will be an unnecessary drain on the economy, urging the President to focus on the quality of education by improving existing infrastructure.

Currently, infrastructural and logistical challenges remain a major problem just three months into the education policy that will make secondary school education entirely free.

Addressing some traditional leaders at the Flagstaff House on Saturday, Nana Akufo-Addo said the policy is a needed investment in the nation’s future workforce.

“We have to speak the truth to each other as Ghanaians. In today’s world, junior high school education is not enough.

“We have to make sure that everybody gets at least to secondary school and that is why I am determined that the policy of free senior high school will continue and continue so that all our children will always have the opportunity to go to school,” he said.

Meanwhile, the new policy remains a key concern for some civil society groups who say the congestion that will ensue due to the influx of first-year students could impede teaching and learning.

At least $100 million of Ghana’s oil and gas revenues will be used to fund the programme.