President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the Free Senior High School policy implemented by his government has led to the enhancement of the quality of education at the SHS level.
According to the President, contrary to concerns that the numerous challenges confronting the implementation of the policy could negatively affect the quality of education at the SHS level, the performance of students in the recent West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) indicates that the enrollment of the policy has not only maintained quality education but has improved it significantly.
President Akufo-Addo believes Ghana’s emergence in the 2020 WASSCE as the country with the highest number of students who scored A1s in all subjects is as a result of the implementation of the Free SHS policy which, to him, has enhanced quality education in the country.
“The Free SHS policy has meant that our nation can now begin to reap the fruits of the talents of all its young people as it has been spectacularly demonstrated by the outstanding results of the first graduands of the policy in the most recent WASSCE examination. Of the 465 who obtained 8As in the exams, the ‘Akufo-Addo’s graduands’ from Ghana as they have become known were responsible for 411 of them. Not only has access been widened but quality has also been maintained, indeed, even enhanced,” he stated in a speech accepting the conferment of an honorary degree by the University of Case Coast (UCC) on him.
There have been public discussions recently about challenges confronting the government’s flagship Free SHS policy with many being concerned that the challenges could compromised quality education at the SHS level.
This was after Accra-based Joy FM offered its platform to parents, teachers and other stakeholders in the education sector to assess the implementation of the policy.
Parents, teachers and students who called into the radio station’s morning show complained about inconveniences caused by the erratic schedules of the double-track system, poor quality of food served to the students and congestion in schools’ dormitories as result of the increased number of students among others.
These challenges, they asserted, are hindering teaching and learning and could lower the quality of education at the Second Cycle level.
But responding to the concerns at the Special Congregation in his honor, President Akufo-Addo accused the radio station of waging a campaign against a policy which, he said, has been accepted and embraced by the masses as it has made SHS education accessible to every student regardless of their family’s economic condition.
While denying claims that his government is suppressing media freedom, the president said a spirited defense by his administration against what he believes is a malicious attempt by the media entity to belittle the significance of the policy should not be mistaken to be an attack on press freedom
