In order to free up resources for students from less fortunate backgrounds, President Yaw Acheampong Boafo of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his administration to reevaluate the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy by permitting students from wealthy families to pay fees.
Speaking on Monday, September 9, at the Ghana Bar Association’s 2024/2025 Annual General Conference in Kumasi, Mr. Boafo recognized the important contribution the Free SHS policy has made to improving educational access in Ghana.
But he emphasized how important it is that there be financial parity in the system.
He advised the government to stop funding secondary education for those who can afford it, and instead concentrate on strengthening basic education and providing help for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
He said:
“The Free SHS programme must be means-tested using the data compiled by the National Identification Authority so that rich parents do not suddenly transform to become peasant farmers, as in the days of old when we had the COCOBOD scholarship.
“Students from comfortable backgrounds who attended expensive basic schools must pay fees at the senior high school level so that resources are free to fully cater for the poor. Mr. President, we must invest more in ‘syto’ (public schools) education, eliminate schools under trees, and provide sanitary pads for poor young girls first before spending so much on secondary education.
“As one comes before two, so basic education comes before secondary education. There is also this recent revelation about the school feeding programme from the Auditor General, which should serve as a source of concern for us and call for review and improvements in the operations of the programme, the main beneficiaries of which are people from poor backgrounds.”
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