President Akufo-Addo has said the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagship Free Senior High School programme has contributed significantly to transforming the mindset of Ghanaians.
According to the president, the policy received a lot of backlash from his opponents, who described the policy as just a political slogan.
During his penultimate State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 in parliament, he said through the Free SHS initiative, the country will be able to produce engineers, doctors, architects, among others.
“Mr Speaker, Free SHS might be labelled by its detractors as a mere political slogan that must be demonized, but it is, in fact, a transformative programme that has broken myths and liberated minds. It is humbling on the one hand and frightening on the other, to think of the sheer number of talents that Free SHS has unearthed that would otherwise have ended their formal education at BECE.
“I know we will get more engineers, doctors, architects, scientists, writers and poets out of the increased numbers of those attending Senior High School, who will go on to further education. Even if they stop at Senior High School, imagine what a million more Secondary School educated young people will do to our self-confidence and the value of our workforce. That, alone, makes Free SHS worthwhile.”
He urged his critics to rather focus joining forces to find solutions to make the initiative a better one.
“Mr Speaker, I believe the success of the Free SHS has answered its critics, and the arguments about it should cease, and we should simply concentrate on finding ways to improve it. I am particularly glad that the
fears about lowering of standards have been allayed. Refreshingly, we witnessed, through the 2023 batch of Free SHS students, the best WASSCE results in a decade.”
