The Africa Education Watch, an education policy research and advocacy organization has called on the government, particularly the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, to prioritize children from the poorest households under the Free Senior High School Policy using data from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program.

The Education think-tank group in its Financial Burden Analysis of the Free SHS Policy and Implications on Equitable Access revealed that even though the Free Senior High Policy has taken off, about a quarter of the financial burden previously borne by parents before its introduction by the government, still remains very significant component of financial responsibilities that parents take care of.

According to the group’s report, the remaining financial burden left on parents despite the introduction of the Free Senior High School by the government has the potential of denying poor children access to secondary education in the country.

“Between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 academic years, about 194,862 candidates who were placed in secondary schools were unable to honor their admission at first instance, with cost barriers being the major factor.
“The high cost associated with boarding education for both the government and parents is a major contributing factor to poor parents’ inability to enroll their wards even after being placed in secondary schools”.
EduWatch, Financial Burden Analysis of the Free SHS Policy and Implications on Equitable Access Report

The Africa Education Watch in its report further noted that to achieve the objective of equitable access under the free SHS policy, it is imperative that the government provides additional support to parents with low income to enable them to see their wards throughout secondary education.

Explaining how the government can identify the groups of parents who are within the low-income category, the education think-tank group urged the government to use the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty database that has over 346,019 poor households across the country based on which cash grants are dispensed to them bi-monthly as stipends.

The group asserted that using such a database will enable the government to spend more to cover the full cost of secondary education for students from the lower-income households, compared to those from upper-income households.

Cost Effective Analysis Of Boarding Education And Day Education

Furthermore, the Africa Education Watch urged the Ministry of Education to develop and implement a strategy to gradually transition Ghana’s secondary education system from the current boarding-“as-a-norm to a day-as-a-norm”.

According to the education think-tank group, free boarding secondary education should be reserved strategically for students in underserved communities where there is no reasonable access to a secondary school.

However, the Africa Education Watch strongly asserted that those willing to access boarding secondary education as a matter of choice must pay for its full cost.

The group stressed that such an initiative would offer the government some additional window of financing the Free Senior High School Policy and further help address the financial constraints on the government due to the policy.

In addition, the education think-tank group in its Financial Burden Analysis of the Free SHS Policy and Implications on Equitable Access, admonished the Ministry of Education to improve the disbursement of funds under the Free Senior High School Policy.

The report stated that the timely availability of funds to procure items that are often ‘smuggled’ into or charged behind prospectuses by heads of the various secondary circle institutions in the country, is critical to sustaining the compliance of the current moderate harmonized prospectus regime.

The Africa Education Watch also emphasized that the frequent disbursement of funds under the free senior high school will improve the availability of adequate foodstuff in schools to reduce the financial burden on parents who supply food ‘provisions’ at an extra cost to their wards in school.