Free SHS policy must target children from poor households – Eduwatch

The Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has urged the government to target the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy at children from poor households using data from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP)programme as a point of entry.

It said that under the LEAP programme, the government currently had a database of over 346,019 poor households across the country based on which cash grants were dispensed bi-monthly as stipends.

“This will enable the government to spend more to cover the full cost of secondary education for students from the lower-income households, compared to those from the upper-income,” Eduwatch added in its report on Financial Burden Analysis of the Free SHS Policy and Implications on Equitable Access.

The education policy research and advocacy organisation said that between the 2017 and 2023 academic years, a total of GH¢7.6 billion was allocated to the Policy with GH¢5.3 billion expended between 2017 and 2021.

“The government’s annual per-student spending under the Policy averaged GH¢1,241 representing 23 per cent of the total per unit SHS expenditure per annum, while parents contributed the remaining GH¢4,185, representing 77 per cent of the cost, suggesting that, the Policy has taken off about a quarter of the financial burden previously borne by parents before its introduction,” it added.

It further indicated that between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 academic years, about 194,862 candidates who were placed in secondary schools were unable to honour their admission at first instance, with cost barriers being the major factor.

“The high cost associated with boarding education for both the government and parents is a major contributing factor to poor parents’ inability to enrol their wards even after being placed in secondary schools.

As such, it indicated that to achieve the objective of equitable access under the free SHS policy, it was evident parents from low-income households require more support to enable them to see their wards throughout secondary school.

Africa Education Watch is an Education Policy Research and Advocacy organization working with Civil Society Organizations, Government, and Private Sector to promote an equitable, accountable and responsive education system that assures quality and equal opportunities for all.

Working with partners in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya and Nigeria, we envision a continent with globally competitive human capital that drives economic and social development.

READ THE FULL REPORT BY EDUWATCH ON FINANCIAL BURDEN ANALYSIS OF THE FREE SHS POLICY AND IMPLICATIONS ON EQUITABLE ACCESS HERE

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