President Akufo-Addo declares success of Free SHS, calls for further improvement

Ghanaian

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has declared that the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) initiative has been successful in answering its critics.

During his State of the Nation Address in Parliament on February 27, 2024, he emphasized that it's time to stop debating the effectiveness of the program and instead focus on improving it.

Highlighting

Read full articleon accomplishments of the Free SHS, the president stated, "I am particularly glad that the fears about lowering of standards have been allayed. Refreshingly, we witnessed, through the 2023 batch of Free SHS students, the best WASSCE results in a decade."

"Mr Speaker, there is more to education than Free SHS, and Government has been paying equal attention to all the other sectors. Kindergarten, Primary School, and Junior High School must work together to give a solid foundation, and strengthen the Free SHS policy."

He added, "The focus of the comprehensive reforms within the sector has been to improve learning outcomes and ensure every child that goes through our education system is equipped with literacy and numeracy skills by the time they exit primary six (6)."

According to Akufo-Addo, to further enhance learning outcomes, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has partnered with key development allies to launch the Ghana Educational Outcome Project (GEOP).

The program provides educational support to 72,000 out-of-school children, helping them access complementary education and transition into formal schools.

Underscoring this, he noted, "This programme has worked so well it won the GOVTECH PRIZE award in February 2024, at the World Government Summit held in Dubai.

"Government has remained committed to improving the teaching and learning of STEM education at the pre-tertiary level. Key interventions have included increasing our ability to produce STEM professionals, and also meeting 21st century skills."