President-elect of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has declined claims that his forthcoming administration plans to cancel the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy. He reaffirmed his commitment to improving the program, putting stickers on the cancellation rumours as political rhetoric.
His comments follow mixed reactions to suggestions made by former Finance Minister Seth Terkper, who proposed that the policy should be limited to day students to reduce the government's financial burden. In a recent TV3 interview, Terkper advocated for consent to models similar to those in European countries and the United States to ensure the program's sustainability.
In an interview with VOA’s Paul Ndiho, Mahama draws attention to the need to strengthen the policy by doing away with the inefficiencies and securing dedicated funding:
"We’re going to maintain the policy, but we’re also going to secure dedicated funding to better resource it. Currently, there’s a lot of waste, and we want to make the system more efficient so that teachers, parents, and students can get the best out of the Free SHS."
Mahama also pointed to challenges in the basic school sector, stating:
"We’re going to address the issues at the basic school level as well, because while we’re focusing on Free SHS, the basic level is being neglected. There are 1.3 million pupils without proper furniture. They have to sit on cement blocks or lie on the floor because our attention has been on secondary education."
Additionally, Mahama reiterated plans to hold a national education forum to involve all stakeholders in discussions on policy improvement:
"We’re going to hold a national education forum that will bring all stakeholders together. This will be a nonpartisan event where everyone with a stake in education will come together to make important decisions on how to reform our education system and ensure that children receive better-quality education."
The Free SHS policy, introduced in 2017, has so far cost Ghana an estimated GHS 9.9 billion.
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