former Deputy Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB) who is also a member of the government communications team, Alfred Thompson, has assured that the Free Senior High School policy is going to be reviewed and made better by the NPP administration.
He stated that the quality of education under the policy is going to improve.
“The free SHS will be reviewed and improved upon, and the quality is going to be stronger and higher,” he said on the Key Points show on TV3 Saturday, March 2 while contributing to a discussion on the State of the Nation address delivered by President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday February 27.
The Free SHS was launched by President Akufo-Addo in 2017 upon the assumption of office as president of Ghana. He made the promise while in opposition.
President Akufo-Addo during the 2024 SONA indicated that not only has the implementation of the policy been successful, but it remains a transformative programme that has unearthed talents who may have ended their formal education at the BECE level.
He said “Mr Speaker, Free SHS might be labelled by its detractors as a mere political slogan that must be demonised, but it is, in fact, a transformative programme that has broken myths and liberated minds. 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,” he stated.
The President said that aside from implementing the policy, he is thankful that people’s fears that Free SHS would lower standards in schools have been allayed following the release of the 2023 WASSCE results.
“I know we will get 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 their education,” he indicated.