The government has allocated a total amount of GHS7.62 billion to implement the free SHS Programme since its inception in 2017 to present.
According to the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, the primary sources of funding for the free SHS Programme over the five years period has been from the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) and other Government of Ghana (GoG) funding sources.
Out of this amount, GHS4.18 billion was sourced from GoG, representing 54.76 per cent, while the remainder of GHS3.44 billion, representing 45.24 per cent was sourced from ABFA.
Specifically, the Annual Budget Funding Amount was set up by the government to channel allocations from petroleum revenue in support of government budgets.
In examining the use of petroleum revenue in the country, the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) ACT 815 states that after the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) receives its portion of oil profit, 70 per cent of the remaining profit must be lodged in the ABFA.
The law also stipulates that 70 per cent of the ABFA must be invested in infrastructure projects with the remaining 30 per cent to be allocated to priority areas, including education.
To ensure that no child is left behind in access to education, the free SHS Policy was introduced as the government’s flagship programme to provide key requirement such as tuition, meals for both boarders and day-students, textbooks, library fee, boarding fee, science laboratory fee, examination fee and utility fees.
Governments’ implementation of the free SHS Programme
Particularly, as part of the implementation of the free SHS programme for 2020/2021 academic year, the Minister highlighted that the government procured and distributed 4,135,284 exercise books, 1,767,547 note books, 395,571 P.E. kits, 1,734,800 cartridge art paper for visual Arts Students, 27,391 technical drawing boards and technical instruments and 34,696 water-based acrylic paints for Visual Arts students.
According to the Minister, the total number of SHS students enrolled under the policy over the five year period totaled 1,261,125. For the 2020/2021 academic year, the budget statement reported that 423,320 first year students were enrolled.
“Mr. Speaker, five years after the implementation of the Free SHS, 411 students, constituting 88 percent out of the 465 candidates who scored grade A in all subjects at the 2020 WASSCE, were beneficiaries of the Free SHS.”
Mr. Ken Ofor1-Atta, Minister of Finance
Furthermore, he indicated that the Ministry has commenced the construction of 1,135 infrastructure projects at the secondary level. He further noted that the number students increased each year, hinting that the projects are aimed at creating enough space to accommodate the increasing number of students.
Moreover, the Minister also highlighted that a total of 50 projects made up of classrooms, dormitories, Administration blocks, libraries and canteens have been completed this year. This brings the total number of completed projects under the Senior High School Infrastructure Interventions to 589.
These notwithstanding, the overarching concern about the free SHS Programme revolve around the issue of sustainability. Several considerations have arisen about the possibility that the government may be financing the free SHS Programme from borrowing, a concern the Minister has denied as ever being the case.
READ ALSO: Newly introduced taxes accrue GHS 249.7 million for May and June 2021
