President Akufo-Addo has stated that the success of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy introduced by his government has answered its critics.
According to him, in the past seven years, many people across this country have said they are the first person in their families and in their communities to have gone to Senior High School.
“They might well ask the question, why are they the first boy or girl in their family to have gone to Senior High school. The answer is not far-fetched. Not being able to go to secondary school for lack of money was so widespread and an accepted phenomenon that it led to some people thinking Senior High School was not meant for them or their children or for people from their village, and, therefore, a child in the family finishing Junior High School and moving on to Senior High School was simply not factored in their expectations.
“Mr Speaker, Free SHS might be labelled by its detractors as a mere political slogan that must be demonized, but it is, in fact, a transformative programme that has broken myths and liberated minds. It is humbling on the one hand and frightening on the other, to think of the sheer number of talents that Free SHS has unearthed that would otherwise have ended their formal education at BECE,” President Akufo-Addo disclosed during his address in Parliament at the 2024 State of the Nation Address on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 .
He indicated that the Free SHS policy will get the nation more engineers, doctors, architects, scientists, writers and poets out of the increased numbers of those attending Senior High School, who will go on to further education.
“Even if they stop at Senior High School, imagine what a million more Secondary School educated young people will do to our self-confidence and the value of our workforce. That, alone, makes Free SHS worthwhile. I am proud that the NPP government, under my leadership, has been able to bring this transformative policy into our education system.
“Mr Speaker, I believe the success of the Free SHS has answered its critics, and the arguments about it should cease, and we should simply concentrate on finding ways to improve it. I am particularly glad that the fears about lowering of standards have been allayed. Refreshingly, we witnessed, through the 2023 batch of Free SHS students, the best WASSCE results in a decade. Mr Speaker, there is more to education than Free SHS, and Government has been paying equal attention to all the other sectors. Kindergarten, Primary School and Junior High School must work together to give a solid foundation, and strengthen the Free SHS policy.”
