President John Mahama has stated that 54,800 children in 4 regions have been enrolled into schools under the Compulsory Education program.
This he said was is in fulfillment of a pledge made by government to absolve the cost of secondary education in Ghana.
The introduction of free secondary education, popularly referred to as "Free SHS" was a contentious issue in Ghana during the 2012 elections, with the population divided as to its implementation. While a section of the public believed that 'Free SHS' will enable many deprived Ghanaians to access secondary education, others expressed fears that it could cause the quality of education in secondary schools to drop.
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He noted that the over 200 community Day Schools being built will create 200,000 new places in the SHS system. This he said is the biggest ever expansion of education in the entire history of Ghana.
According to him, government has introduced two new programs in Education: Teacher Professional Development where the aim is to train 95% of teachers in Basic level by 2020.
He said government has supplied free uniforms, sandals and text books.
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In June 2015, he said government distributed 10,000 Made in Ghana sandals as part of his social interventions.
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Delivering the state of the nation address, the president said the move will create about 1, 400 new direct jobs in the Ghanaian businesses.
The Ghana Education Service in 2015 had listed some of the schools that will benefit from the implementation of the progressive free SHS policy.
See related:Over 300,000 Day Students to benefit from free SHS policy
They include:
Central Region – 27, 795 students in 54 schools
Western Region – 38, 751 in 56 Schools
Ashanti Region – 64, 430 from 102 schools
Northern – 17, 648 students out of 45 schools
Brong Ahafo – 38, 751 from56 schools.
Upper East – 1,395 students out of 28 schools
Upper West – 877 students from 23 schools
Eastern – 34,157 students out of 82 schools
Greater Accra – 52,664 consisting of 46 schools
Volta – 36,859 out of 88 schools