African Education Watch, a civil society organization focused on education, recently published a study that clarifies the financial effects of Ghana's Free Senior High School (SHS) program. The study underscores the fact that parent expenses vastly outweigh government spending on the free SHS program.
According to the study's findings, the government spent, on average, GHS 1,147 per student on boarding schools and GHS 1,107 per student on day students. On the other hand, during the 2021–2022 academic year, parents were reported to have spent GHS 2,477 on prospectuses for their children attending boarding schools, and an additional GHS 4,000 on personal products including sanitary pads, detergents, and fragrances.
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During a conference on education financing in Accra, Mr. Divine Kpe, Senior Programmes Officer at African Education Watch, presented the report under the theme "The Financial Burden of the Free SHS Policy and Implications for Equitable Access to Education." The analysis of the cost borne by the government was based on free SHS budgetary allocations and expenditures acquired from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, and Parliament covering the academic years from 2017–18 to 2022–23. Meanwhile, the cost to parents was evaluated using historical pricing data of prospectus items from the Ghana Statistical Service.
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Highlighting an increase in prospectus prices by 38 percent, the report emphasized that this surge was observed from an initial percentage of 36 during the early implementation stages of the policy. Mr. Kpe also pointed out that parents of continuing day students spent an average of GH¢4,400 annually on their children's education, with 40 percent allocated to transportation, 50 percent to breakfast, and the remaining 10 percent to books. Additionally, parents of day students were reported to have spent GHC5,507 inclusive of prospectus costs, surpassing the government's spending of GHS 1,107.
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The study also revealed that financial constraints resulted in a 15 percent failure of candidates to honor their admission for the 2022–2023 academic year. This failure was linked to the high cost of prospectuses and other educational materials.
In response to these findings, the report suggested several recommendations. Firstly, it proposed that the Ministry of Education develops and implements a strategy focusing on children from the poorest households, utilizing data from the LEAP program, with an aim to allocate more funds to cover the full cost of secondary education for students from lower-income households. Secondly, to address the challenges related to funds disbursement, the report recommended that the Ministry of Finance improves the disbursement of funds under the policy in line with the policy objectives, implementation arrangements, and cash flow projections.
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