We’ve recorded highest ever SHS enrollment amid Free SHS – Govt

Amid the introduction of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme, President Akufo-Addo says the highest ever enrolment of first-year students into Senior High School in our nation’s history was recorded this academic year.

His Excellency disclosed this while speaking at Ghana’s 67th Independence Day anniversary at Koforidua in the Eastern Region on Wednesday, 6 March 2024, adding “We have a lot to be proud of, but we have more work to do.

“I am happy that, through the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, we are removing financial barriers to education, unlocking the potential of thousands of young Ghanaians, and laying the foundation for a brighter future for our country.

“This year, we have seen the highest ever enrolment of first-year students into senior high school in our nation’s history, that is five hundred and three thousand (503,000) students, a clear indication of the widespread embrace of the Free Senior High School Policy”, he announced.

Mr Akufo-Addo said: “We should be able to offer every Ghanaian child the best education there can be, and, having completed High School, our children should be equipped with skills that make them prepared to face the modern world. Our schools must prepare our children to be comfortable with Science and Technology and ready to compete in the modern economy”.

He noted that “there is more to preparing a child to face the world than what can be taught in a classroom, and there is certainly more to moulding a Ghanaian child than what our hard-working teachers do every day”, complaining: “Too many parents have relinquished the entire responsibility of bringing up children to what happens in schools”.

“I do not refer only to our music, dance, food, language and fashion that form the basis of our cultural identity; I refer to the values that set us apart as Ghanaians.

If we are to take pride in being Ghanaian, there should be a consensus on the values we hold dear, and we should transmit them to every generation,” the President told Ghanaians at the 67th Independence Day celebration.

About Free SHS

In September 2017, the Ministry of Education achieved a major milestone with the implementation of the Free Senior High School program. That year, there was an 11% increase in enrolment, breaking records from previous years.

In the 2017/2018 academic year, a new record was set with the highest enrolment ever seen in the country with more than 470,000 students enrolled in various government Senior High Schools (SHSs) amid the Free SHS programme.

Under the Free SHS policy, every Ghanaian child who is placed into a public Second Cycle Institution by the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) is eligible for a free SHS education.