IFEST criticises Afrobarometer’s report that 85% Ghanaians want Free SHS maintained

Okyere Darko 1 month ago

The Institute for Education Studies (IFEST) formerly VIAM Africa has criticised Afrobarometer’s report indicating that 85% of its respondents who are Ghanaians want Free Senior High School (Free SHS) to be maintained.

In a post sighted by GhanaEducation.org, an official of IFEST, Peter Partey Anti said the Barometer in its survey asked a wrong question which does not reflect the actual idea of Ghanaians about the Free SHS programme.

“I think that was the wrong question asked. I don’t think there is any doubt in any mind that the FreeSHS policy is here to stay and any government that reverses it will face the wrath of the people.

That question should have been —- Should the FreeSHS policy be retained in its current form? All the discussions about the policy is its mode of implementation and the possible need for a review

So we missed an opportunity to scientifically test whether the call for a revision of the policy is a popular view among Ghanaians,” the official of the Institute for Education Studies said in a social media post.

Peter Anti emphasised that regardless of which party wins the 2024 national elections, the next government should review the implementation of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy introduced in September 2017.

His comment comes after Afrobarometer, an independent, non-partisan research network in a report indicated that 85 per cent of Ghanaians want the next government to continue with the Free Senior High School education.However, 24% of respondents in the survey cited education as one of the top 3 problems facing the country which requires fixing. The highest problem rating for education since Afrobarometer started in 2008. The second highest was in 2019 (14%).

Aside from the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme, other initiatives Ghanaians want maintained are the Planting for Food and Jobs programme (81%), One District One Factory (71%), and the One Village One Dam policy (60%).