Kofi Asare, executive director of Africa Education Watch, is uncertain that the government would ever reevaluate the Free Senior High School Programme.
He claims that despite IMF demands that the government evaluate the project as part of its efforts to strengthen fiscal policy, so far there have been no signs of such a review taking place.
According to the IMF’s country report for Ghana from May 2023, the government has committed to “review all government flagship programmes and publish a strategy to decide their future course.”
The Free SHS project is a cornerstone of the government’s main initiatives, and it is expected to cost about GH2.9 billion this year. The IMF has said that the Free SHS is not well targeted.
Kofi Asare made this point on PM Express, saying “And I’ll be surprised if the government reviews it because the communication on the government’s position on the lack of targeting of the Free Senior High School is that the government is aware; the government is already aware that the Free Senior High School is not targeted, so the World Bank said nothing new. And that the World Bank says that the policy is not targeted does not mean the government is saying they’ve targeted it. That’s what Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said clearly on JoyFM this afternoon.“
“So to wit, until we see any formal communication from the government indicating that it intends to review the Free Senior High School Programme, I think we will just be doing speculative exercise as we’ve been doing all this while.” he said
In the meantime, the IMF has shown that Ghana spends about 4% of its GDP on education, with positive results in terms of enrollment but weak learning outcomes.
The International Monetary Fund has highlighted primary education resources, teacher training, and performance-based financing practises as three key areas where there may be room for improvement in educational spending.
What is Ghana’s free senior high school policy about?
In accordance with a campaign pledge, the government of Ghana eliminated SHS fees for the 2017–18 academic year. All costs associated with attending a public senior or vocational high school, such as fees, accommodations, boarding fees, meals, and textbooks, would be covered by the government under the new programme.
Article 25 1b of the 1992 Constitution states that “secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education”.
