The Government's free Senior High (SHS) policy has to be reviewed, according to Professor Peter Quartey, Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research at the University of Ghana. He claims the project is unsustainable.
"On occasion, I have backed the revision of the programme, and I disagree with the idea of the government covering everyone's tuition and boarding costs.
I believe there should be a cost-sharing arrangement between the state and the parents and the ability for parents to pay for boarding, the man stated.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Prof. Quartey stated that the policy was confronted with finance issues and food shortages, emphasising that permitting revision of the programme would remove these obstacles.
"I firmly endorse the government's priority of improving public education. I support free SHS, but not in the way it now is since the country's fiscal capacity cannot support it, he stated.
According to him, given the situation of the nation's resources, the country cannot continue to subsidise everyone as it has done in order to maintain the policy, guarantee excellent education, and improve school administration.
There are numerous day schools nearby for kids who cannot pay the boarding costs, mentioning where it is. Many of us attended day schools, which did not impede us from attaining our future goals. He stated that the scholarship secretariat may provide scholarships to deserving students in cases when it was practically impossible.
He said that the government might use some of the gratuitous SHS funds to help economically productive areas where the nation was in dire need of funding.
The professor emphasised that the government needed to simplify the entire process, from the contact hours to the double tract system, and said that the free SHS had inadvertently decreased educational quality because the schools did not have enough cash to operate.
He urged governments to prioritise education for long-term socio-economic development, claiming that government financing for education has decreased or suffered over the past ten years, not just during the free SHS.
Even though public schools have qualified instructors, Prof. Quartey urged officials to enforce stringent oversight since their kids' performance lagged below that of private schools.
A government programme in Ghana known as the Free SHS education policy was unveiled in September 2017 under Nana Akufo-presidency. Addo's
The three main tenets of the policy—access, fairness, and equality—fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals as updated by the United Nations, where member nations integrate those tenets into their educational systems to provide suitable learning experiences for pupils.
According to a survey, the free senior high school policy has helped parents, particularly those from rural and peri-rural areas, by relieving their financial load.
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