Free SHS is causing Ghana problems and is an unemployment threat – Asantehene
Overlord of the Ashanti Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ii has expressed how the flagship Free Senior High School policy is heavily weighing down on the national budget despite the country’s meagre resources.
Asantehene did not only complain about the financial impact of the policy but also expressed concern about its possible impact on unemployment levels in the country.
“Considering the value to the nation, this must be one of the boldest policies of the nation but it also brings its challenges,” Otumfuo stressed.
In recent times, the Akufo-Addo government has been under pressure to review the free senior high school policy as it takes a chunk of the country’s resources and poses a threat to quality, although access has drastically improved. But the government appears adamant.
The Asantehene, while delivering his speech at a Memphis in May event at the University of Memphis in the United States, raised fundamental questions about the policy, particularly its impact on jobs as more SHS graduates are being churned out from the various second-cycle institutions.
“The current government has introduced free education up to Senior High School, which now ensures that all Ghanaian children from whatever background are guaranteed free education.”
“It [Free SHS] puts a huge strain on the national budget and raises further the challenge about the creation of jobs for the increasing number of graduates”, he added.
Conversations have been rife pointing to the fact that the Free SHS programme should be reviewed to target persons with genuine needs and not made to benefit everyone.
The suggestion is that some Senior High Schools should be allowed to demand fees whereas others are made free to create a fair playing field for students from all walks of life.
“I believe strongly that we need to target people, and the most appropriate way is by means-testing. Instead of making SHSs free, why don’t we make some free and others payable,” said a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey.
The academic is concerned about the state of Ghana’s free senior high school education emphasizing that secondary education in Ghana is becoming “less and less competitive.”
He feared that this could threaten social cohesion in the future and undermine national development.
