John Mahama, the former president of Ghana, has emphasized the need to examine the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy in order to assure its quality.
“It is not too late for the government to review the free senior school policy to ensure quality in the face of continuing challenges that hinder implementation,” he said.
According to the former president, this policy may be improved by introducing a scholarship programme for low-income families and by introducing private high schools with the necessary infrastructure to supplement the policy.
The Conference of Aided Secondary Schools has regularly threatened to close schools owing to food shortages or lack of funding to implement the policy, putting pressure on the policy.
Three past chancellors of public universities support the review of the free senior secondary school policy: Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyeman of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, and Prof. Ernest Arieti both of the university. Ghana.
Former President Mahama stated at the eighth annual national conference of delegates of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) that his administration has superior strategies to improve the policy.
He suggested that there is information on a significant number of existing private high schools with sufficient cash that could be utilised to prevent the infrastructure that the public system developed immediately after the introduction of free high school.
“Involvement of private schools would save parents and students from the psychological torture, unpleasant experience, unplanned expenses that they faced with the introduction of the two-track system, and the introduction of the policy forced parents to withdraw their wards from school.
“When the free senior secondary system was introduced, it was limited to public school students and parents transferred their children from private to public secondary schools to participate in the dual track system,” ex-President Mahama condemned.
He pushed for a call for a national conference of stakeholders to assess the implementation of the policy to increase the standards of secondary education, as well as any chance to persuade the government to consider a national conference of stakeholders to review the implementation of the policy.