Former head of the Political Science Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, has downplayed the achievements of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
He said, the crop of students in second cycle schools in the country are unable to read or write due to poor implementation of the Free SHS policy and inadequate resources.
The current government has been touting the success of the free SHS implementation, claiming it has significantly increased access to quality education.
Since its inception in 2017, the policy is reported to have increased Senior High School enrolment from 308,799 in 2016 to 507,519 in 2024, impacting gender parity at the high school level.
Dr. Amoako Baah who was speaking in an interview on Onua FM Atifi Nsem show on Saturday July 20, said that beneficiaries of the policy have become timid and cannot read or write.
“Free SHS yes, I admit that it has made the second cycle school free; it has allowed more students to have access to the secondary schools, but what do they learn, they learn nothing, they can’t even read or write,” Dr Amoako Baah asserted.
“The children go to the schools and return home on vacations weak-willed because they don’t eat well in the schools,” he revealed.
He prayed the policy could be reviewed, so that parents who could pay their wards school fees are allowed to pay to enhance its implementation.
Source: 3news.com
