A comprehensive solution to the teething problems with the Free Senior High School policy has been demanded by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
A review of the government’s educational policy has been demanded by various stakeholders, including the opposition National Democratic Congress, due to the policy’s various challenges.
If Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, wins the 2024 election, he has pledged to improve the free SHS policy.
During his February 27 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Akufo-Addo declared that the Free SHS policy’s accomplishments have silenced its detractors and called for practical ways to make it better.
“Mr. Speaker, I think that the Free SHS’s success has silenced its detractors, so we should stop debating it and instead focus on how to make it better. In particular, I’m relieved that the concerns regarding standards being lowered have subsided. It is encouraging to note that the 2023 batch of Free SHS students achieved the best WASSCE results in ten years.
According to him, the Free SHS policy is a “transformative program” that has liberated minds and dispelled myths.
“Mr. Speaker, Free SHS is a revolutionary program that has dispelled myths and freed minds. Its opponents may call it nothing more than a political slogan that needs to be hated. The sheer quantity of gifted students that Free SHS has discovered that would have otherwise completed their formal education at BECE is both frightening and humbling.
“I am confident that the higher number of students enrolled in senior high school will result in an increase in the number of engineers, physicians, architects, scientists, writers, and poets who pursue higher education. Imagine the impact a million more secondary school-educated youth would have on our workforce’s value and self-esteem, even if they only complete senior high school. That alone justifies the value of Free SHS.
