GH¢9.9billion spent on implementation of Free SHS Policy since 2017 – Finance minister

Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the Minister for Finance, has disclosed that the government has spent GH¢9.9 billion on implementing the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy since its inception in 2017.

Presenting the 2024 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament, Dr. Amin Adam highlighted the commitment of the Akufo-Addo-led administration to education over the past eight years, noting that a cumulative of 5.7 million young people have benefited from this initiative, many of whom may not have gotten the opportunity.

“The impact of the programme is evident. To date, a total of over GH¢9.9 billion has been spent on the programme and a cumulative total of 5.7 million young people have benefitted from this initiative, many of whom may not have had this opportunity.

"Mr. Speaker, to complement this effort, we have provided facilities under TVET to empower our young people with employable skills; with 168,000 students enrolled in the 2023-2024 year. Additionally, we are constructing 10 STEM Schools and 10 STEM Centres across the country, and we have distributed 900,000 tablets for secondary school students. Quality education has been given considerable focus. The performance of the students at WASSCE in 2023 is also the best since 2015," he explained.

Dr. Amin Adam reiterated that education has been a top priority for the past eight years, aiming to enhance skills and thereby productivity, economic growth, and living standards.

“Mr. Speaker, there is empirical evidence that education is the great leveller that improves opportunities for any child along the social stratification. As UNICEF has already pointed out, education is a key social and cultural right and plays an important role in reducing poverty and child labour. Furthermore, education promotes democracy, peace, tolerance, development and economic growth,” he added.

In September 2017, the government achieved a major milestone with the implementation of the Free Senior High School.

That year, there was an 11% increase in enrolment, breaking records from previous years.

In the 2017/18 academic year, a new record was set with the highest enrolment ever seen in the country: over 470,000 students enrolled in senior high school.

Analysts say the policy has neglected the physical infrastructural needed for education, with complaints about the lack of dormitories, dysfunctional science laboratories, insufficient teaching materials, low meal quality and inadequate class hours being common.

JKB/AE

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