● Registration Opens: Join the 2026 BECE Home Mock to Secure Grade 1s JOIN NOW ×

John Mahama Free SHS

I will not cancel Free SHS – Mahama’s bold declaration at SONA

by
Mahama Free SHS

I will not cancel Free SHS… this is the latest bold declaration by Presdident John Mahama during State of the Nations Address (SONA). President John Dramani Mahama has reaffirmed his commitment to the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme, assuring Ghanaians that his administration has no intention of cancelling it.

Delivering his State of the Nation Address to the 9th Parliament on Thursday, February 27, 2025, President Mahama emphasized that his government is focused on improving the implementation of the programme.

“Mr. Speaker, once again for emphasis, and for the record, I, John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, will not cancel the free SHS programme. I am determined to make it better by improving its implementation,” President Mahama stated.

According to President Mahama, the Free SHS programme has improved access to education, but its implementation has been plagued by challenges.

He noted that the actual number of beneficiaries since its inception is about 3.4 million, contradicting the 5.1 million figure previously reported by the Akufo-Addo government, which he described as an “exaggerated and false narrative calculated to achieve political credit”.

The President also highlighted his administration’s efforts to address the challenges facing the education sector.

READ: Education Issues In the 7th State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President John Dramani Mahama

He announced the restoration of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and emphasized the importance of community participation in the administration of schools.

Additionally, he noted that the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) will ensure that PTAs do not impose unbearable financial burdens on parents and students.

To address the issue of overcrowding and infrastructure deficits, President Mahama announced that his government is committed to accelerating school infrastructure expansion and completing stalled projects. He also revealed that efforts are underway to improve secondary school feeding, including decentralizing food management and strengthening procurement and store management capacity.

John Mahama to make private schools part of Free SHS

by
John Mahama Free SHS, private schools Free SHS

The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has explained that the next NDC government under his leadership will make private schools part of the Free SHS policy.

According to him, private schools are willing to be part of the policy and take the same fees that the government spends on students in public SHS. He added that the bringing on board of private SHSs would help introduce more schools, infrastructure, and human resources in such schools, which will go a long way to help start dealing with the overcrowding in public SHSs that has resulted from the double-track system, among other things.

He explained this during his town hall meeting with the clergy in Kumasi over the weekend. According to him, the neglect of private SHS in the implementation of the Free SHS has negatively affected such schools. He furthered that a situation in Nzema where all students in a private SHS were re-enrolled in a free public SHS led to the destruction of the private SHS since the school no longer had students. Mahama added that this created overcrowding in the public SHS and unused capacity in the private school.

READ: Ada College of Education’s Maxwell Bunu elected new National President of CETAG

The next NDC government plans to include private schools in its efforts to redistribute learners from public SHSs to private schools and other public schools with greater capacity. Under the Free SHS policy, students enrolled in private SHS will still have free access to secondary education.

John Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), affirmed his commitment to include private schools in the Free SHS policy. According to him, this will lessen the burden of such neglected schools and make more facilities available for the Free SHS.

READ: Graduate Teachers to NPP: Release Our Appointment Letters Now or Lose Our Votes on Dec 7th!

Ghanaians go to the polls on December 7th, and the Free SHS policy is one key campaign message being used to win voters by both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the largest opposition party in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Ghana Education News