Free SHS cost hits GHC7.7 billion

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The Government of Ghana has so far spent GHC7.7 billion in implementing the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy since its inception.

The government’s flagship policy has also benefitted more than 1.2 million students at the secondary education level.

Dr Yaw Osei-Adutwum, the Minister of Education made the statements at a press conference in Accra yesterday.

He said, for instance, an amount of GHC480 million was spent on the Policy in 2017, GHC1.3 billion in 2018, GHC1.6 billion in 2019, GHC2.4 billion in 2020, while GHC1.9 billion would be spent this year.

The Minister said government had made giant strides in providing teaching and learning materials and expanded physical infrastructure like classroom blocks, dormitories, science and library laboratories, among others, to second cycle educational institutions across the country even though some elements in the society had tried to downplay Government’s efforts.

“We may not have the best education system in the world, but we had made giant strides over the past four years,” Dr Osei-Adutwum stressed.

He reiterated the Akufo-Addo-led government’s determination to providing free, compulsory and quality education to every Ghanaian school going-child in the quest of “making Ghana the education hub of Africa”.

The Minister said government was committed to building a robust education system that could compete with international best practices.

Dr Osei-Adutwum said Government’s goal in implementing the Free SHS Policy was to transform the education system and making it play a pivotal role in socio-economic development of the country.

“For education to be fit-for-purpose, we should have students who are creative and critical thinkers, especially in this Fourth Industrial Revolution to navigate the world,” Dr Osei-Adutwum added.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com

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