Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has praised the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy as the most significant social intervention undertaken in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.
Addressing participants at the Young Commons Forum at University of Cape Coast, the Effutu MP said that despite ongoing public debate, the programme’s contribution to expanding access to secondary education is unquestionable.
He noted that the initiative, introduced in 2017 under former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, transformed the educational landscape by eliminating financial barriers that previously prevented many students,especially those from low-income families from attending senior high school.
According to Afenyo-Markin, although the policy has faced criticism, its scale, reach and impact make it the most emblematic and consequential social intervention of the Akufo-Addo administration. He emphasized that by removing fees at the secondary level, the programme has opened opportunities for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide.
Since its rollout, Free SHS has significantly increased senior high school enrolment across the country and remains one of the most prominent policies of the former administration.