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President Akufo-Addo has expressed his outmost satisfaction with the result that the Free Senior High School policy is chalking.
According to the President, the results of the 2021 WASSCE is a testimony that the policy has been successful since its introduction.[ads2]
Speaking at the seventieth anniversary celebration of the Tamale Senior High School (TAMASCO) in Tamale, on Saturday, 11 th December 2021, President Akufo-Addo said, “five (5) years on following the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme, which has guaranteed a minimum of Senior High School education for 1.6 million Ghanaian children, I want to state, without any equivocation, that I am very proud of the policy and of its results thus far.”
He reiterated that the experiences of developed nations have shown that the most efficient way to create a society of opportunities, and, thereby, guarantee the future of a nation, is by investing in education and skills training of the youth.[ads3]
“There were some who described Free SHS as “a waste”; some said it would “destroy our Ivy League Schools”, and some indicated that the policy was going to compromise the quality of senior high school education. None of these have happened, and I am sure they have eggs on their faces now, or should have, President Akufo-Addo stated.
He added, “The 2021 WASSCE results of the second batch of the “Akufo-Addo graduates” shows 54.08% of students recording A1-C6 in English, as opposed to 51.6% in 2016; 65.70% recording A1-C6 in Integrated Science in 2021, as opposed to 48.35% in 2016; 54.11% recording A1-C6 in Mathematics, as compared to 33.12% in 2016; and 66.03% recording A1-C6 in Social Studies, as compared to 54.55% in 2016. Lest we forget, the 2021 batch of students were the pioneers of the double track system, which elicited a lot of vilification and unfounded criticism on its introduction.” [ads4]
“In 2015, it was 29.2%; in 2016, it was 31.4%; in 2017, it was 34.7%; in 2018, it was 31.3%; in 2019, it was 46.3%; and in 2021, it was 45.8%. Surely, Chairperson, there can no longer be any controversy about the validity of the Free SHS policy and its consequential measures. It is working,” he said.
He urged Ghanaians to “forgo partisan, parochial considerations, which confer little benefit, and all agree that Free SHS has to be a part of our national educational architecture, for, at least, a generation, if not forever. Our nation will clearly be empowered and enriched”. [ads5]
