Over 190,000 students placed in Free SHS did not enrol – Eduwatch Report

Some 194,862 students who were placed in Senior High Schools under the Free SHS in 2023 did not enrol despite the Free SHS policy covering some cost of secondary education.

This is a fallout from a report made public by the education think tank Eduwatch.

The study, titled “A Financial Burden Analysis of Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy,” captured very important and worrying findings, along with challenges that the Free SHS is facing.

Per the findings, 194,862 students could not honour their admissions despite secondary education being free. This data covers the 2019 and 2023 school years.

“Between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 academic years, 194,862 candidates did not honour their admissions at first instance into second cycle schools,” the report read in part.

Why many of the students placed in Free SHS did not enrol explained

The report revealed that Free SHS was underfinanced between the 2017–18 and 2021/22 academic years. A total of GH¢ 7.6 billion was allocated to Free SHS; however, only GH¢5.3 billion was expended on the Free HSHS policy, averaging GH¢1.06 billion per annum.

The report further showed that the government of Ghana spent an average of GH¢1,241 on each learner placed in a public SHS under the Free SHS, while parents incurred at least GHS4,185 per annum from 2017/18 and 2021/22 academic years.

READ: 2024 BECE and WASSCE not entirely FREE for public schools

Africa Education Watch has recommended that the Education Ministry needs to set its priorities right by targeting children from the poorest households with the Free SHS, using data from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme as a point of entry.

It also called on the Ministry of Finance to take proactive steps to apply efficiency and effectiveness when disbursing funds to the Free SHS policy.

The Think Tank argued that the timely release of funds to the policy at the school level was crucial. It said the timely availability of funds (especially at the school level) to procure items that were previously smuggled into the prospectus is critical to sustaining compliance.

READ: Top 20 Best Performing SHS In Ghana for 2023, according to WAEC: Presec is not part of the 20 Top

The Free SHS was introduced among other things to increase accessibility; however, these revelations show that a lot more work needs to be done on the policy to ensure that the number of parents who, due to the need to spend about GHS4,185 to get their children to enrol in SHS, are catered for. Without the government increasing the percentage of costs incurred per student under the Free SHS, more parents are likely not to enrol their children, even when the learners are placed.