In a recent critique, a seasoned journalist and media practitioner, John Beresford Hughes popularly known as Johnnie Hughes has passionately criticized the free education system as poorly structured and thus ineffective for the adequate education of Senior High School (SHS) students in Ghana.
“Back in the day, we went to school for three months,” he made reference to his time and generally to that of SHS students in Ghana before the free education program took effect and argued that the education system has since then seen nothing but a decline in the quality of education.
Hughes’ bewilderment stemmed from the fact that someone close to him who had gone to school in January this year returned in February for a three month long vacation already.
“Now, on Saturday, somebody I know who attends free SHS came back home after one month in school… And then the person told me that they are going to spend three months at home. The children went to school for one month and they are coming home for up to three months, or thereabouts”
Johnnie Hughes, Journalist
Johnnie Hughes wondered how the new government was going to navigate the burden and complexities that the free SHS policy has riddled the country’s education system with.
“This is the education system that the new government has been bequeathed with. This is what they received” he said, establishing that the current mess and confusion was from the previous government.
Hughes’ main concern was with the free SHS timetable where students now spend more time at home during vacations than they do in school and questioned the minds and qualifications of the educationists who drew and implemented such a timetable for secondary education in the country.
“So they went to school just this January, they are back home in February. They will go back to school in May. I don’t know which educationists at the Ministry of education or Ghana education service thought that this was the way to go”
Johnnie Hughes, Journalist
According to him, saying that the policy was effective with regards to educating large numbers, was not a relevant argument, if this was the kind of education that was taking place. “The everybody is going to school” argument has lost its meaning under these circumstances.
He argued that the one month school term was “technically” three weeks since the first week for those in the boarding facilities would undoubtedly be used for “orientation and for cleaning and for arranging things” and getting ready to study.
He also bashed the falseness in the claim that some five million students had benefited from the Free SHS policy when the actual number was less than four million just to score political points by the previous government that started the policy.
“We were quoting 5,000,000 in excess. Now the people who are quoting 5,000,000 beneficiaries to us have come to actually tell us that it is not 5,000,000. It is less than 4,000,000. But because of political expediency, we were busy telling people that it was 5,000,000
“And I’m telling you that I had the shock of my life when somebody I personally know came back after just one month in school to tell me that they are going to stay home for three months”.
Johnnie Hughes, Journalist
Even though it has always been the responsibility of parents to look after their children during school vacations, this kind of education system in his view would compound the stress of parents who now have to ensure that their children get the education they should’ve otherwise been getting in school at home.
He imagined the extra cost that the Free SHS policy was placing on parents in the form of extra classes and remedials as a result of its ineffectiveness and stressed how different everything was now from his time when “we used to be in school for three months”.
The journalist emphasized the fact that vacations which lasted “two weeks, maybe one month, three weeks” were always shorter than the time spent in school back then, even the “long” vacations, and everyone was better for it.
The Free SHS Policy
The popular free SHS policy was the major campaign promise of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2016 and the biggest policy they implemented in their eight year government that ended in January 6, 2025.
Rooted firmly in the belief that secondary education that came at no cost would increase the literacy rate in the country, and ease the pressure on parents to educate their children, the policy and its pioneers won the massive approval of all Ghanaians.
The policy rolled out in 2017 and changed the way and manner Ghana’s education system operated. Notable amongst the changes were parents not having to pay school fees anymore, and the introduction of the double track system so that already existing facilities could be used by the large number of students enrolled in shifts.
However, financial, logistical and resource challenges since the policy’s inception, have contributed to a seeming decline in the quality of secondary education in the country over the last seven years and has caused many to question its place in education in Ghana.
“What kind of educational system have we bequeathed onto the new government?” Johnnie Hughes asked, bemoaning the disaster that President John Dramani Mahama and the new Minister of Education Hon. Haruna Iddrisu have on their hands.
Despite applauding the efforts of the new Minister of Education in addressing the academic user fee at the University of Ghana, Legon and slashing the prices for its students, Johnnie Hughes cautioned that the work at hand was far more tedious.
“The problem that you have as minister for education, you have no idea. Things have been messed up beyond measure. You go to school for one month and you stay at home for three months and you are supposed to be in school”
Johnnie Hughes, Journalist
He also challenged all who saw nothing wrong with the current state of the free education system to think critically about it.
“because we are running a track system and you have people saying oh it’s good to have the children in school but I’m saying that you think about it. That somebody goes to school for one month and comes to stay at home for three months. What they learnt at school, won’t they forget?”
Johnnie Hughes, Journalist
Hughes isn’t the only one who has raised concerns about the free education system and its pitfalls. Many stakeholders in the education sector including parents, teachers and students have lamented the challenges of the free SHS policy.
It is the hope of everyone now that the new government tackles these issues head on to restore quality to an education system that currently only pays attention to quantity.
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