Free SHS: Send your wards to private schools if you can afford – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo following calls for the Free Senior High School to be targeted thus to exclude wards of well-to-do individuals has said persons who can afford private school fees should send their wards to private institutions.

His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made the comment addressing the 2024/2025 Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Kumasi.

Nana Addo in his address defended the flagship Free SHS policy, stating that public schools funded by taxpayers must remain free for all, especially those who would otherwise be unable to afford secondary education.

“People who can afford to pay fees for the education of their wards should send them to fee-paying private schools. Public schools that are funded by the taxpayer should be free to all who will otherwise be unable to pay for their education.

That is why the number of pupils who have access to secondary education has doubled since the introduction of the free senior high school policy.”

Over 5.7 million persons have benefitted from the policy since its inception. The following impact of this dramatic development will be felt in due course and will far outweigh the small number of privileged parents who can afford to pay for the education of their wards,” President Akufo-Addo stated.

Akufo-Addo’s comment comes after the President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Yaw Acheampong Boafo, urged the government to reconsider the Free SHS policy, proposing that affluent families pay fees to allow more resources to be directed towards less privileged students.