'If Someone Can Afford Free SHS, Let's Allow Them to Pay' - Otumfuo Proposes Funding Overhaul for Free SHS
Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana - 17 March, 2025 - Ghana's free secondary education policy is facing a crucial examination, sparked by Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, who proposes a funding overhaul.
He suggests affluent families should contribute to their children's education costs, ensuring government resources are allocated to students in genuine need.
During a meeting with Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu, Otumfuo suggested that students from affluent families should pay for their education, while needy and deserving students receive bursaries. This approach echoes past practices where students who could afford to pay did so, and those in need received scholarships, ensuring a more equitable distribution of resources.
“Those who can afford to pay, let’s have a second look at the policy. If someone can afford it, let’s allow them to pay.
“In the old times, when you passed, the bursary would look for good but needy students and award them scholarships, and those who could afford to pay did so.”
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II called for a nationwide conversation to tackle the pressing issues facing Ghana's Free Senior High School policy. Despite acknowledging the policy's benefits, he stressed the need to address its sustainability and the logistical challenges plaguing senior high schools.
He noted that these challenges include overcrowded dormitories, inadequate science and ICT laboratories, food shortages, and insufficient school buses. Otumfuo's proposal for a national dialogue aims to find solutions to these problems, ensuring the policy's long-term viability and effectiveness.
“This Free SHS we are talking about, although we have implemented it, if we have a dialogue and find out that it will result in students coming home every now and then because there is no food, then it is not fit for purpose.”
“Our dormitories are overcrowded and lack science and ICT labs. Sometimes PTA makes contributions to support. The lack of school buses and the shortage of food should all be looked at. Let us implement it well so that students will stay in school and have enough to eat,'' he added.
The Free SHS policy, introduced in 2017, aimed to remove financial barriers to secondary education.
Experts argue that a mixed funding model could help alleviate some of the pressure on the government's budget, allowing for more targeted support for disadvantaged students. However, others caution that any changes to the policy must prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable students.
Source: Lead News Online
