Spending millions on Free SHS and not producing quality is a big worry – NDC Communicator

Margaret Ansei

Communication team member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Margaret Ansei has expressed concerns about the quality of education under the government's free Senior High School (SHS) programme.

In an interview with TV3 on the New Day Show, she highlighted the importance of quality education, emphasising that simply attending school for free is not enough, especially when students are unable to acquire essential skills.

She further expressed her belief that education should not solely focus on access but also on the quality of learning.

“We said a whole a lot, we want quality, when you speak to professors or those in academia they will tell you the free SHS programme when they come, when you are teaching them, you have to teach them like you are an SHS student, even in the university, that is the pain you are going through, who said its not good to educate the Ghanaian child or how does it serve the purpose, how do we gain by spending millions of money, about 4% of our GDP goes to free SHS and yet we are not getting the quality that is required,” Margaret Ansei argued.

The free SHS programme is one of the 16 flagship programmes implemented by the ruling New Patriotic Party government.

It is aimed at providing universal access to secondary school education while alleviating financial burden on families.

Following the approval of the deal with the IMF, government is compelled to review the policy to ensure that it is targeted properly.