NAPO touts Free SHS achievements, debunks quality concerns

Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) running mate, has hailed Ghana's Free Senior High School (SHS) policy as a game-changer in education.

Speaking at the University of Memphis in the United States on October 19, Dr. Prempeh emphasized the policy's positive impact on educational outcomes and equity.

As the former Minister of Education, Dr. Prempeh played a pivotal role in rolling out the policy in 2017. He debunked claims that the policy compromised education quality, instead highlighting its numerous successes. 

“It is important to state that a cursory analysis of core subject performance from 2015 to 2023 points to a significant improvement in the past 5 years. For the 2022- and 2023-year groups, for example, more than 60% of candidates obtained A1-C6 in all core subjects, which are the qualification grades required for admission into a tertiary institution in Ghana.

“In fact, the 2023 results in this context are the best in 9 years. This, clearly, further refutes the argument by some naysayers that the Free Senior High School Policy was to compromise quality education.

“The equity component of the Free SHS programme has been crucial. Beyond removing financial barriers, we actively ensured that children from disadvantaged backgrounds could access our top schools.

This led to the introduction of the 30% equity policy, reserving 30% of spaces in top schools for children from public basic schools, who often come from deprived backgrounds but had performed well in their final junior high school exams the BECE considering their backgrounds and other challenges within their study environment,'' he added.

Source: Lead News Online