Free SHS gave over 3 million children access to secondary education – Afenyo-Markin

Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has described the Free Senior High School policy as the most transformative education reform in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.

Addressing the IERPP lecture attended by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and chaired by Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Afenyo-Markin stated that over three million Ghanaian students accessed secondary education between 2017 and 2024 under the programme.

“Before Free SHS, secondary education was practically a privilege,” he said.

He argued that the policy reduced child labour, teenage pregnancy, and streetism, while improving social mobility.

Beyond Free SHS, he cited the establishment of new TVET institutions, STEM centres, and science laboratories across the country.

“These investments are not consumption. They are capacity-building. They are property policy in the digital age,” he stated.

He cautioned that reversing Free SHS would amount to reversing gains made in youth development and national human capital.