A total 794,899 enrolled on Free SHS – Minister

Government’s Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme has enrolled a total of 794,899 students since it started two years ago.

In September 2019, the third cohort of Senior High School students will be enrolled making it all for free for the first time in our history.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta Minister of Finance said this on Monday when delivering the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review of the 2019 Budget Statement and Economic Policy and Supplementary Estimates in parliament in Accra.

He said the successful implementation of the Free SHS programme had resulted in an increase in demand for secondary education.

To meet this demand and ensure that no child is left behind, the Minister said government introduced the double track school calendar as a temporary measure in 394 Senior High Schools and employed additional 8,872 teachers in order to ensure effective teaching and learning in the schools.

He said in order to facilitate the phasing out of the double track system, the government initiated a total of 804 infrastructure projects of which 413 were expected to be completed in November, 2019, for use in the 2019/20 academic year, with funding from the Ghana Education Trust Fund.

Mr Ofori-Atta said to improve access, an Academic Intervention Programme was introduced in the 2018/19 academic year, in all public Senior High Schools, to improve academic performance of students.

The programme, he stated, had identified weak students, especially those performing below achievement standards and provided coordinated and individualized support after school, evening and weekend programmes.

Source: GNA