Education think tank, Africa Education Watch, has called on the government to reconsider its Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
It suggested that, parents who choose to enroll their children in boarding facilities should bear the associated costs.
In a report titled: ‘Financial Burden Analysis of the Free SHS Policy and Implications on Equitable Access,’ EduWatch proposed that free boarding secondary education be specifically designated for students in marginalized communities.
The study, conducted by Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) in collaboration with Oxfam under the DANIDA Strategic Partnership II Project, said allowing parents to contribute financially would enable the government to generate additional revenue to support the Free SHS program.
“In the medium-to-long-term, the MoE must develop and implement a strategy to gradually transition Ghana’s secondary education system from the current boarding-as-a-norm to day-as-norm. Free boarding secondary education should be reserved strategically for students in underserved communities where there is no reasonable commutable access to a secondary school. However, parents, who in spite of an opportunity for their wards to be day students for free, still decide to opt for boarding status must pay for its full cost.”
Additionally, the study recommended that the government improve the distribution of funds allocated for the Free SHS program to enhance the quality of teaching and learning.
“The MoF must improve the disbursement of funds under the free SHS policy. The timely availability of funds (especially at the school level) to procure. items that were previously ‘smuggled’ into prospectus, is critical to sustain compliance with the current moderate, harmonised prospectus. This will also improve the availability of adequate foodstuffs and other Teaching and Learning Resources in schools to reduce the financial burden on some parents to supply provisions to their wards in school” he added.