Akufo-Addo has absolutely no intention to roll back Free SHS – Ofori-Atta

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has said government has no intention of rolling back its popular flagship education programme, the Free Senior High School ( Free SHS) programme.

That he said was because the government sees s education as the best enabler for economic transformation and growth adding they will rather do more to make it better for Ghanaian children.

He made the comment at a press conference in Accra today announcing the steps government has taken to mitigate the impact of the current economic rises confronting the country”.

 “President Nana Ado Dankwa Akufo-Addo has absolutely no intention to roll back on a major policy like Free SHS . We see education as the best enabler for sustainable economic growth and transformation and will do more to improve on it for it to serve more and better our children,” Mr Ofori-Atta said at the press conference monitored by GhanaPlus.com.

Free SHS

The Free SHS programme, a flagship programme by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was introduced in the year 2017 to create equal opportunity for Ghanaian children to acquire secondary education, financial background regardless.

Launching the programme, he said “because I know that knowledge and talent are not for the rich and privileged alone, and that free education widens the gates of opportunities to every child, especially those whose talents are arrested because of poverty,” hence the introduction of the policy.

Under the policy, food, accommodation, examination fees, electricity bills and host of other expenses are catered for by the government for all SHS students across the 16 regions of the country.

As at October 2021, some 1.6million students have benefited from the programme and still counting with some estimated ₵5billion spent so far on its implementation.

However, there have been several concerns raised about the policy with many calling for a review to exclude children from wealthy families.

They are of the view parents who can afford should be allow to pay while government cater for children whose parents are not in the position to do so.

Source: GhanaPlus.com