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#free shs

    • According to him, it is not captured anywhere in the 2019 budget that qualified students will be prevented from benefiting from the free SHS policy if their parents do not have a TIN.

    The Education Minister, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has strongly dismissed claims that starting next year, students who qualify for free SHS would be denied access if their parents do not have TAX Identification Numbers (TIN).

    • According to President Akufo-Addo, “In all, 1.2 million children will be enrolled in our High Schools across the country under the policy, making it the largest number of students so enrolled in our history.”

    President Akufo-Addo says the Free Senior High School policy, introduced and implemented in 2017, will, from next month in September, have all students from SHS 1 to SHS 3 being its beneficiaries.

    • This year, the Akufo-Addo government has announced that it will spend some GH¢453 million ($103 million) of the country’s oil revenue on funding Free SHS, more than double the amount spent last year on funding the policy.

    President Akufo-Addo, says the use of some of the country’s oil revenues to fund the Free Senior High School policy, which is guaranteeing all Ghanaian school-going school access to senior high school education, is most appropriate.

    • The 2020 election, President Akufo-Addo stressed, is going to give the Ghanaian people another opportunity to tell the opposition NDC that “they live in another world ...

    President Akufo-Addo says the Ghanaian people will not entrust power into the hands of the opposition National Democratic Congress in 2020 because of their determination to cancel the Free Senior High School policy.

    • “No headmaster or headmistress, therefore, is to charge any unapproved or illegal fees, or charging fees already exempted under the free SHS policy. Government will make sure of this, and sanction any school head who flouts this directive,” he said.

    President Akufo-Addo says no headmaster or headmistress of any Senior High School in the country is to charge any unapproved or illegal fees, or charge fees already exempted under the Free SHS policy.

    • According to President Akufo-Addo, “It is not right that the overwhelming majority of ordinary Ghanaians should pay for the actions of a greedy few, without sanction.”

    The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has assured the Ghanaian people that “those responsible for the sequence of activities that led to the ‘banking crisis’ will face the full brunt of the law if they are found to have broken the law”.

    • With Mrs Chinery-Hesse becoming the first female Chancellor of any public university in the country, the President stated that she is taking over as Chancellor from one of Ghana’s most illustrious sons,

    President Akufo-Addo says one of the most important immediate challenges that will confront Universities across the country will be the dramatically increased population of students, who will be seeking admission in some two years, as a result of the Free Senior High School policy.

    • The Minister continued, “Very soon, this year, we are supplying Question and Answers, as model Question and Answers and Chief Examiners Report to every student in the country, so that, ...

    The Minister for Education, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, says the decision by the Akufo-Addo led government to spend the country’s oil revenues on “Free Senior High School education is a better investment than anything the country can dream of.”

    • A letter from the GES dated May 2, 2019 and addressed to all regional directors of education said the decision was made in consultation with the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary School (CHASS).

    First year Senior High Students (SHS) on the Green Track System would stay home for eight weeks instead of five when they leave their respective campuses for the second semester mid-semester break next week Friday.

  • The Minister of State-designate in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has defended the four-year Senior High School curriculum saying that students who went through that system performed better than their counterparts who went through the three year course system.

    • “I remember I sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) with my fifth born ...

    Ms Comfort Nutsugah, a 51-year old trader, has taken advantage of Government's Free Senior High School Policy to further her education.

  • “Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupidity is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupidity. That might actually make a difference.” Jim Butcher in Vignette

    • Since 2007 when we last reviewed our curriculum, a lot has changed. Indeed, a lot has changed since 2012, when the next review should have been conducted. Unfortunately, our children ...

    Written By Prince H Armah, PhD - The saying is true at both the personal and national levels that education is the greatest investment you can make. Education is the path out of poverty for nations as much as it is for individuals.

    • He said the government could not wait to address all the issues of infrastructure before continuing with the free SHS policy adding that “despite providing 96,403 mono desks, 33,171 pieces of dining hall furniture, 3,033 tables and chairs for teachers, 12,953 bunk beds,... it has not been enough to address all issues of infrastructure”.

    President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has chided pessimists of the double track education system and gave the assurance that the policy would be implemented in September this year.

  • Today, Monday, September 11, 2017, all senior high schools (SHSs) across the country reopen to begin the 2017/18 academic year.

  • I didn't support the free SHS policy of the NPP. I'm still intuitively against it. I've even argued that the free education policy in the three northern regions has outlived its usefulness. The people of the three regions can pay their children's fees just like those in southern Ghana.

    • Mr Darkwa said the schools were given the free hand to identify their own suppliers and agree with them when they could deliver.

    The Free SHS Secretariat says heads of senior high schools should be blamed if, as of now, their schools are yet to get the full complement of supplies under the free SHS policy.

    • Unfortunately, there are children between the ages of eight to 14 who have never been to school. These children are in their formative years, ...

    Written By Patrick Twumasi - Confucius once said “If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for 10 years, plant trees. If your plan is for 100 years, educate children”.

  • Challenges are good. They provide an excellent opportunity for initiatives to be refined and made better. This is my approach to many things – including the free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

    • They have been grouped into two tracks –Green and Gold- as the new double track system introduced by the government to deal with infrastructure challenges begin.

    The Ghana Education Service says it will adopt innovative means to monitor the performance of students who will be home while their colleagues are in school.

    • “I think quality should not be associated with the double track. We have a terrible school system. Terrible! And I think it has to change for the better,” he said..

    The Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has dismissed suggestions that the implementation of the double-track system will negatively affect quality of senior high school (SHS) education in the country.

    • When the double-track system was introduced in September this year, the government projected to phase out the system in seven years’ time.

    The government is making an effort to raise $1.5 billion to develop more infrastructure in schools selected for the double- track system to hasten the process of phasing out the system within the shortest possible time.

  • Written By Francis Cofie - Educational planners and policy-makers introducing reforms in the basic school syllabi should ensure that the changes are responsive to the national aspiration and also address socio-cultural challenges of society and the country at large.

    • To the Ghanaian educational system that I went through; it appears just like every other subject, including our so called technical skills subjects, they are all largely reduced to paper, pen, and scribbling...

     It is becoming clearer, more than ever, that the challenge of our government leaders is their inability to make a lemonade when handed a lemon. I have heard all manner of arguments made in reference to our educational infrastructure and quality challenges; yes, the challenges. I haven't really heard much about ideas that can help us make the best out of the situation; so I dare to share one here.

    • For instance, in Ghana and Malawi, nearly all pupils completing Grade/Class Two, who were assessed recently could not read a single known word such as ‘the’ or ‘cat’.

    Written By Emefa J. Takyi-Amoako - The current government’s policy of Free Senior High School (SHS) education is a laudably brave and an important step, even if its formulation and implementation seem unsteady right now.

  • Written By Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh - Fear of criticism is the kiss of death in the courtship of achievement — Thomas Carlyle

    The success of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme will transform the human capital base of this country within a decade. It will be the most enduring legacy of the Akufo-Addo administration. Therefore, everything possible and lawful must be done to ensure its success.

    • Curriculum experts are familiar with three types of implementation models: Fidelity, Mutual Adaptation and Enactment. Each of these approaches has its strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, most policy makers will admonish the implementation agents to adopt the fidelity approach. This is because this approach bestows on the implementer the need to faithfully and loyally roll-out the new policy without making any serious modification to it.

     Written By Peter P. Anti - In 2003, I got the opportunity to teach in a junior high school in the Central Region. I was given the opportunity to represent my Head Teacher in most of the Ghana Education Service workshops and training programmes.

    • All the responses I received, following the publication, were in favour of the rich not having to pay.

    Dr Kwaku Yeboah Kese - Recently, a publication in the Daily Graphic seemed to suggest that the rich should pay for the free senior high school (SHS) education to make it sustainable.

  • President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Saturday cleared any ambiguity over the government’s policy to roll out its free senior high school (SHS) policy, effective September this year, saying SHS education would be truly free.

  • The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has suggested that persons who can afford to pay fees for the education of their wards be excluded from the government's Free Senior High School (SHS) Programme.

  • Provision of furniture to boost the government’s implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme is estimated at about GH¢80 million, the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh has said.

    • For Gold-Track students, Dr Tandoh said they would begin their first semester on November 10, 2018 until February 28, 2019 when the semester would have ended.

    The Ghana Education Service (GES) has released the timetable for the double track and continuing students in senior high schools for the 2018/19 academic year.

  • The Ghana Education Service (GES ) is recruiting 8,872 staff in order to meet the demands of the double track educational system which takes off in September this year.

    • The payment of extra classes fees does not provide the opportunity for acceleration or remediation for students who cannot afford to pay.

    The government has made available GH¢55,278,500 to provide incentives for teachers to offer extra tuition to all senior high school (SHS) students after the normal class hours.

  • Written By Amadu Kamil Sanah - It is exciting times in Ghana’s educational sector as the government of the day has initiated one of the boldest decisions in the sector, since independence or as is often said in the new Ghanaian ‘parlance 60 years on’.

    • “Unfortunately, we have not been able to increase the infrastructure as rapidly as the number of entrants. But if you are prepared to find a way, you will find that way, and we have found a way to be able to absorb this intake. We call it the Dual Intake System ...

    Government has adopted the double intake system for new entrants into public senior high schools (SHS) beginning September 2018.

  • The government of Ghana, under the Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP) has negotiated an additional $40m from the World Bank to support the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy, the Minister of Education has said.

    • So far, the Scholarship Secretariat will be spending about GHc500 million in financing the free SHS programme out of its budget of GHC1.2billion.

    The government has shifted the cost burden of the direct funding of its free senior high school (SHS) programme to the Scholarship Secretariat.

    • "Expanding the knowledge capability of citizens is not only good for our socio-economic development l, but it is also good for democracy and how we govern ourselves.

    Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has handed over 365 Double Cabin Pickup trucks and 493 motorbikes to officials of the Ministry of Education in fulfillment of President Akufo-Addo’s commitment to ensure that the education sector is adequately resourced to deliver improved learning outcomes.

    • About 766 abandoned and new structures will be completed across the country, especially in schools running the double-track system, to provide enough classrooms to phase out the system for second-year students from September this year.

    The facility expansion project, which forms part of the $40-million additional financing from the World Bank under the Secondary Education Improvement Programme (SEIP), has taken off.

    • Under the free SHS programme, students do not pay admission, library, science centre, computer laboratory, utility and examination fees.

    The government has spent GH¢484,109,531.88 on the free senior high school (SHS) programme since its inception in September 2017.

    • According to him, the current government did not listen to him on countless occasions as he said that a consultative and stakeholders meeting needed to be arranged to ...

    Former President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated that he will review the Akufo-Addo-led administration’s flagship Free-SHS Policy within his first 90-days in office if elected in the 2020 general elections.

    • Even though touted by many as useful, a number of concerns have been raised against the Free SHS especially what has become known as double track. Under the double track system, ...

    Written By Justice Mingle - The Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA, seems to have stirred the hornets’ nest with its call on government to re-examine the Free SHS policy to determine how to reduce government’s expenditure.

  • The free SHS Policy was a critical campaign promise in the 2008 and 2016 general elections. The announcement of the policy which derives inspiration from the Constitution, received both praises and criticisms from a wide range of people. Politically, those on the other side of the divide said it was only a campaign gimmick and the policy cannot be implemented in view of the socio-economic challenges of the country.

    • The new curriculum which was developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is a shift from the objective-based curriculum to a standards-based curriculum with focus on strengthening the acquisition of the 4Rs -

    Written By Elorm Kpedator - Basic schools across the country are experiencing a new academic dawn. With it comes a new Standard-Based Curriculum which will change the entire scope of basic education in the country. In February this year, the President, Nana Akufo-Addo in his third State of the Nation Address announced that a new Standard-Based Curriculum is to be rolled out by government from Kindergarten to Primary 6 by September this year.

    • Under the new system, students in SHS two and three will continue with the normal system but run a semester system just like the universities.

    Written By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediako - Over the years, the country’s students' population has been increasing at a faster rate than available infrastructure. With the introduction of the Free SHS, more students are expected to take advantage of the system to find themselves in schools.

    • Indeed, as a country, we cannot deny the impact free SHS has had on Ghana's attempt to educate its children to a level where the child can be guaranteed of his or her safety in making decisions that concern the future.

    Ghana's 1992 Constitution has been crafted in such a way that Articles 25 and 28 specifically envisage a time where most Ghanaian children shall be educated. This concept is designed to make education progressively free for all children without any barriers.

  • Citi FM, an Accra based radio station, carried a story that we should all be interested in. It has to do with the implementation of the government’s Free Senior High School (SHS)policy.

    • The double track school calendar is an intervention that allows schools to accommodate more students within the same facility.

    Government has adopted the double intake system for new entrants into public senior high schools (SHS) beginning in September 2018.

    • Thus, regardless of quality of test-scores, free education is a nation-builder. Having said these things we must turn to the practicalities of learning and of genius. Learning requires a “learner”.

    INTRODUCTION

    In the Name of the Most High God, Respectfully,

    The Government’s goal of providing free education for high school students in Ghana is good and just.

  • The Minority in Parliament has described the Government’s Free SHS policy as ‘a hoax’, saying it is contrary to the promise they made to Ghanaians that the programme would be rolled out to cover all students in SHS.

    • You fell short of mentioning where else this system operate successfully and additional statistics. But of course I cannot begrudge you, you didn't have all the time to make this disclosures.

    Dear Mr. President,

    As part of your tour of the three Northern Regions, you announced that from the 2018/2019 Academic Year, Senior High Schools will run on what you and your government call 'the double track system'. For the benefit of other readers, let me rehash below in bullet points how the proposed system will work;

  • I am all for a free SHS no doubt. In my view, any and every government should be aiming to ensure that even those we call "illiterates" have at least an SHS education - it should become the minimum exit point from our educational system.

  • "I came across two co-workers arguing on Free SHS policy.

    First man: Let's wait and see, they can't sustain it. This government is full of lies.

    Second man: Massa, if I am thirsty today and happen to meet two strangers who have water in their individual jugs. Then the first stranger refused to offer me his jug of water but the second stranger offered me his jug of water to quench my thirst. Tomorrow if I am thirsty again and the second stranger has no water left in his jug, I will still be thankful to him. At least, I know he is committed to helping."

    Me: One single good deed is better than a thousand good intentions.

  • At the ongoing round table organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD in Geneva, Switzerland, Ghana has been highly praised for rolling out of the free Senior High School education Policy.

    • The double-track system came to manage students’ enrolments competing for space, logistics and basic needs within the learning environment. It has worked to some extent but needs critical evaluation to synthesise the challenges and recommend possible solutions for its progress.

    Written By Rev. Fr Jonas Richmond Atarah - The Ghana Education Service and the Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) but for the untimely postponement of the re-opening date for third-year senior high students that caused inconveniences to parents and their wards must be commended. Meanwhile, it has opened the eyes of stakeholders of education to readily and seriously get involved in making recommendations for greater outcomes of the free senior high education policy. Government must be commended for holding the fort of free senior high school education uninterrupted for more than three years. Past governments were seriously challenged in releasing feeding grants meant only for northern schools to meet their re- opening dates.

  • For most countries where near-universal primary school (primary and junior secondary) enrolment is high, there is the challenge of ensuring these children also get a secondary education as well at the minimum.

    • “True, it may be that there have to be changes in the way we are administering it. I can’t take my child to Achimota or Odorgorno and leave him or her there and drive away and not pay for anything while I can pay for ten people,” Mr Ofori Atta said.

    The Minister of Information, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has asked the public to disregard the recent assertion by the Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori Atta that those who can afford school fees for their wards under the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy should be allowed to do so.

  • STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FREE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL POLICY, AT WEST AFRICA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, ADENTA, ON TUESDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2017

    • This new society will focus on Science and Technology as critical tool for development. It is for this reason that government is implementing the Free Education in Public Senior High Schools.

    President Akufo-Addo says his government will create a society full of opportunities and incentives for Ghanaians.

  • Ahead of the commencement of the Free Senior High School policy from September 13, 2017, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has unveiled the Free SHS logo, at a short ceremony at the Presidency.

    • Amidst these reduced costs, the policy has been critiqued for lowering the standard of education and reducing academic quality at the secondary school levels.

    Written By Fred Awaah - Article 25 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana states that quote ”Secondary education in its different forms including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education. ‘Unquote.

  • Free education is an Nkrumaist, left of centre value. Free education is the cornerstone of any socialist polity.

    Any government that is not of this core value that tries to propose and implement free education for populist, vote grabbing reasons will fail woefully.
    The NPP Addo-led government does not have free education as its core value. Any government that proposes and tries to implement a policy that is not based on its core values will fail.

    • Two NGO workers explain why, despite free tuition, some Ghanaian children still struggle to get an education.

     Since gaining independence in 1957, Ghana has focused on improving access to education and achieving universal enrolment.

    • *They were placed in a school and on a programme and a residency status (day/boarding) that featured in their five choices.

    Let me begin with a sincere apology for my French leave last week and the week before from this column.

    • The understanding was that the double-track would only be operational at the first-year level, as the students would move on to a single track ....

    The government has announced that second-year senior high school (SHS) students will remain on the double-track system when the next academic year begins in September this year.

    • I realised that both the rich (in my estimation) and the poor waited patiently for minutes to get their share of the freebies.

    Written By Dr. Kwaku Yeboah Kese - Opinions vary as to whether or not the rich should pay for their children under the free Senior High School (SHS) programme. Obviously, those who are advocating that the rich should pay for their children are worried about sustainability which, no doubt, is a genuine concern that must be addressed realistically.

    • According to Mr Assafuah, the number of vacancies available in senior high schools is yet to be finalised.

    Prospective Senior High School (SHS) students can check their school placements by close of day Friday, September 6, 2019.

    • It is imperative to understand the basic assumption and history behind the chaos and heartbreak: all parents at the Black Star Square believed that some schools are better than others.

    Written By Prof. Ian Ernest Yeboah - The chaos and confusion associated with senior high school placement at the Black Star Square a few days ago left me heartbroken. Why should Ghana have such difficulty in placing about 520,000 students in 475 senior high schools? Why should families be humiliated by the placement system? I present a simple location-allocation solution to this problem.

    • I noted that Lifelong Learning must incite the responsibility and pride of every teacher everywhere. These days internet sites that showcase best practices ...

    Written By Anis Haffar - It was insightful listening to Conrad Hughes - on Skype from Geneva - contribute as a panellist to the Tema International School (TIS) Educational Forum, Monday October 1, 2018, on the theme, “A Transforming World: The State of School Education in the Next 15 Years”.

    • In my considered view, this mindset is essentially our problem as a country. We reduce everything to political point scoring and cheap partisan shenanigans. This must explain why a Government which is conspicuously suffocating and at its wits end...

    I have been asked by a number of journalists if I feel vindicated and excited that our predictions on the current mode of implementation of Free SHS have finally come to pass following this week's extraordinary developments.

    • Ms Thompson said since Tullow started investing in the country, it had paid $1 billion in taxes, including corporate, payroll and withholding taxes.

    The lead operator of the country’s two premier oil fields — Jubilee and TEN — Tullow Oil Ghana, has announced a $10-million support for the free senior high school (SHS) educational programme.

  • The government has secured US$40 million under the Secondary Education Improvement Project to expand and upgrade facilities in 75 selected senior high schools (SHS), President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has announced.

    • Some of the worries have bordered on the long stay at home of some students while others are in school, which may open the students up to mischief.

    Much as the double-track system introduced by the government last year under the free SHS policy has made it possible for more qualified students to gain admission to SHS, many reservations have been expressed by parents.

    • Many of the parents at the square were ordinary folks whose children had not been successful in any of their five choices. And yet, they were determined that their children must go to school.

    Last week was an interesting, tiring and yet very fulfilling one for me. Monday marked exactly 18,250 days since I arrived on the surface of this earth and let out a piercing cry to announce my grand entry.

    • To scuttle the honour that will be coming to Ghana, the saboteurs are targeting the Minister of Education and his deputies because of the good work that they are doing.

    Written By Godwin Owusu - When the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) was introduced in 2017, they prayed for its failure, but they did not succeed, and when the Double-Track System was introduced in order to admit more students, they wished the system bad.

    • “It is important obviously for Ghana and its people, but also important for the rest of Africa because of the spill over effect, but also of the demonstration effect, to show that a country that is reforming and opening up its economy is achieving good results.”

    The World Bank Vice President for Africa, Dr Hafez Ghanem, has praised the Ghana Government for its revolutionary decision to provide Free Senior High School education to Ghanaian youth, and has pledged the Bank’s support for its sustenance and improvement.

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