The Free Senior High School policy has come under scrutiny again as a professor at the University of Professional Studies in Accra, UPSA, has revealed how much the government spends on each student annually.
According to Professor Isaac Boadi, each student under the Free SHS costs the government an amount of GH₵ 18,000 for it to be sustained. The policy which began in 2017 has spanned under the two terms of the Akufo-Addo government.
In an interview, the Dean of the Faculty of Finance and Accounting at the UPSA said with such an amount being spent on the policy, there is every need to put together a collective effort to protect it. He said the amount is used to pay for essential expenses like uniform, maintenance, admission, supplementary stationary and also P.E kits.
According to him, with the current global economic situation, parents would have paid even more than the amount especially with those who wards were admitted at the boarding houses. He described it as a transformative initiative by the government’ and also an intervention to lift financial burden off the parents.
By his submission, Professor Boadi called on Ghanaians to pay proper recognition to the value that the Free SHS policy carries and vote for the party who introduced it to make it much more better as it needs enhancement and protection against a possible cancellation by the NDC.
