FREE SHS—AN EXPEDIENT EDUCATIONAL POLICY INTERVENTION IN GHANA
Human needs and wants are so diverse and numerous, the resources are always limited. The process through which a government skillfully addresses the needs of the society by carefully allocating benefits, rewards, and penalties is referred to as politics. It must be noted however that politics includes so many concepts that could mean almost anything and everything; and this makes it readily associable to deception, manipulation and corruption. Therefore, the modern day connotation of politics is simply everything that is ‘dirty’. But, is politics actually dirty?
One of the things borne out of politics is the introduction of Free SHS in Ghana. Free SHS means free tuition, no library fee, no boarding fee, no science laboratory fee, no exam fee, no utility fee, free meals for both boarders and day students, no Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) fee and free text books on core subjects (English Language, Social Studies, Integrated Science and Mathematics).
The introduction of Free SHS in Ghana meant making education accessible to all school-going children thereby bridging the gap of inequality between the rich and the poor. It has created an inclusive education where the rich and poor students are brought together to study. This widens the experiences of students. Therefore, both students learn how to accept and respect each other’s view irrespective of their background—rich or poor. It has also bridged the gap between the so-called rich and poor schools, thereby boosting the confidence of all students.
Free SHS has reduced the financial burden on parents. Parents are not really stressed when it is time for students to resume school. This is so because many Ghanaians are low income earners who struggle with common needs to survive. Before the introduction of the policy, many children in Ghana, especially in our rural areas suffered the phenomenon of dropping out of school because of parents’ inability to pay fees. The policy also made it possible for students to have the peace of mind to study as they were spared the familiar and often times regular feature of sacking for non-payment of fees.
The introduction of Free SHS has almost doubled the number of the students in our schools. According to the Ministry of Education, in the first term of the 2017/ 2018 academic year, enrolment into first year of Senior High School was 424, 092 students, representing an increase of approximately 63% in first-year enrolment over that of 2014/ 2015 academic year’s figure of 260, 210. This increase in student enrolment has also created employment in our educational sector as many people have been employed as teaching and non-teaching staff. As a result, the canker of graduate unemployment has been minimized thereby giving some boost to the country’s economy.
Also, intellectual economy in the nearest future is one of the merits of the Free SHS policy. Second cycle institutions enroll more students now as compared to previous years. This means that for some years to come, a majority of the population would have acquired an appreciable level of skillfulness to be able to make a great contribution to the economic growth of the country.
It is true that people differ in the way they perceive things, and disagree in almost every conceivable aspect of life. The implementation of the Free SHS policy has been criticized on the basis of inadequate stakeholder consultation, inadequate provision of logistics and funds by the government, quality of education being compromised, and maintenance of school facilities. What needs to be noted by all and sundry is that when men argue and fight, they desire for peace and prosperity and this makes the social theorists to even argue that the common good could only be attained through the active participation of the citizens. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to help sustain the policy because ‘a sustained poverty reduction requires a commitment to reducing inequality and improving access to opportunities for all citizens…’ (The World Bank, 2015).
Source: Stephen Kow Amoah
Comments (17)
This article is good
1. I think a background to the inception of the Free SHS could be useful
2. I suggest the opposing view should be briefly highlighted on
3. I think the 1992 constitution of Ghana spells out free education to the Secondary level and I think it should be pointed out clearly for a reader.
I love this page
Next Time talk but the demerit of the policy
1. I think a background to the inception of the Free SHS could be useful
2. I suggest the opposing view should be briefly highlighted on
3. I think the 1992 constitution of Ghana spells out free education to the Secondary level and I think it should be pointed out clearly for a reader.
Nice write up.
GREAT VERY Brilliant and NICE POLICY That Well Let’s Ekumfi And Ghana Working Again
Nice
In my point of view education and training is a good way of empowering the youth of the country so that we can obtain a prominent generation the free shs policy by the president is a good call that must be encouraged by the other opposition parties so that we can make it work and stay As a nation we must be determined to bring education to the doorstep of our children because it is worth it.
Great piece keep it up
But i also think the quality of education is undermined as far as Free S.H.S is concerned my humble deduction
Great article…Mr. Stephen Amoah
The free SHS scheme was described to be impossible but hopefully it has been accomplished. Though there are sorts of inadequacy and limited resources in this project. Yet I believe with determination and sustainability it will yield out better in the future.
Thank you
This is the most elucidated article I’ve ever read about the free shs. God bless the writer
A nice article by all standards!
Free shs is good but government must work out it’s lapses.
My humble suggestion , free shs policy is an excellent policy,but is effectively implemented when there is adequate resources, looking at its implementation in Ghana here, if care is not taken will rather result in a deliberate torture on the part of most students don’t look at it from your own perspective but look at it from the Students perspective . The cause of that torture is the tracks that the policy is operating, resulting in one track out learning far above the other track and because the policy says free education most parents of most students are showing lackadaisical attitude towards giving their wards extra classes to catch up together with their friends at school this in turn will rather produce educated illiterate students in the near future. I therefore suggest if it must be done ,it must be done well ,government to be precised Mr President must solicit adequate funds for the effective and efficient implementation of the THE POLICY. Thanks
This article is awesome because it spells out some good things that comes with the FREE SHS POLICY.
However, have the asserted criticism which was alluded in the write-up been solved or addressed in any way? Until the COVID-19 episode, there had been no or less fumigation in our SHS because of the double track system which is run in such a way that new batch of student reports to their various school immediately a batch vacates. The government have indeed done marvelous and they deserve an applause when it comes to FREE SHS. But it is very essential to involve the primary stakeholders of education especially the PARENTS TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION (PTA) in some of this policies which affects them directly.
But in all the Free SHS Policy is awesome and must be encouraged with it needed logistics that will boost efficiency and results.