By Juliet ETEFE
President John Dramani Mahama has reassured that the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy will not be scrapped but improved to address its challenges.
Speaking during his first, State of the Nation Address 2025, the president said his administration is focused on making secondary education more effective and sustainable.
“I, John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, will not cancel the free SHS programme. I am determined to make it better by improving its implementation.
“Also, for the record, students who have benefitted from the free SHS since its inception are about 3.4 million. The figure of 5.1 million beneficiaries, as previously put out by the Akufo-Addo government, was an exaggerated and false narrative calculated to achieve political credit.
“While it has improved access, the implementation of free SHS leaves much to be desired. The outcomes of the ongoing National Education Forum will guide our reforms in this sector,” he noted.
He pointed out that his government plans to increase investment in education by building new classrooms, expanding teacher training, and ensuring adequate supply of learning materials.
He also announced plans to restore Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and decentralize food procurement for school feeding programs.
“It is important for parents and communities to participate in the administration of their schools. The Ministry of Education and GES will ensure that PTAs do not impose unbearable financial burdens on parents and students who cannot afford them.
“The double-track system remains a challenge, and we are committed to eliminating it by accelerating school infrastructure expansion and completing stalled projects. To fund this, the Education and Finance Ministries are working to uncap the GETFund for secondary school projects.
“As promised, we have begun improving secondary school feeding. Efforts to decentralise food management include strengthening procurement and store management capacity. Once completed, food procurement and management will be fully handed over to secondary school heads,” he stated.
