The private JHS students should be banned from free SHS – EduWatch
The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has urged the government to exempt private Junior High School (JHS) students from the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy in order to maintain the stability of the country’s economy.
In an interview with Accra-based Happy FM monitored by Thisterm.com, the EduWatch Director said the free school policy should be free for only BECE students from the government schools while those from the private sector pay.
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He indicated the GH₵2,000.00 spent annually by the government on each boarding student under the Free SHS is no big deal for parents of students from private Junior High Schools, hence they should be made to pay.
“We achieve the goal of all students receiving education at the Senior High School level with the revision of the free SHS. Students who graduated from private JHS should pay fees, whilst those from gov’t JHS shouldn’t pay
Are we saying graduates from private JHSs cannot pay the GH₵2,000.00 per year spent on an individual under free SHS?” the Education think tank Director asked the host of Happy FM’s morning show, Samuel Eshun.
The flagship Free SHS initiative, Asare said when reviewed, would save the government about GH₵400 million, an amount he believes can be used to create more jobs and create opportunities for economic development.
“This amount saved can be used to protect the outcome of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy for economic development for SHS graduates who cannot pursue tertiary education,” Mr Kofi Asare told Happy FM.
The Free Senior High School (Free SHS) education policy is a central government initiative introduced in the 2017 academic year September by the Presidential administration of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The Free SHS policy aims to take out the element of cost as a barrier to education. Under this policy, every Ghanaian child who attains the pass mark, as agreed for the year by the Ghana Education Service, enjoys a three-year scholarship for secondary education.
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In a related development, the Ministry of Education has said it will not consider private Junior High school students who switched to public Junior High Schools to write this year’s BECE as public school students for school placement.
The move was agreed on at a meeting held between the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum and leadership of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) on November 13, 2023, to discuss the school placement.
“Students from private Junior High Schools to public ones for the BECE will not be considered as public school students for SHS placement due to a breach of West African Examinations Council regulation,” GNACOPS said in a Facebook post.