GH¢2.8bn To Fund Free SHS In September
This year, over 500,000 JHS candidates sat for the BECE, and they will receive their placement into the various SHSs by September. The increase in government spending on education in next year’s budgets the enrolment for SHS is expected up to 1.3 million students.
Government has spent about GH¢800miliion on the Free SHS policy since its implementation
Ghana’s government will need about GH¢2.8 billion next month, which begins the next academic year, to cater for all the 1.2 million Senior High School (SHS) students under its flagship free SHS policy.
Currently, the government spends about GH¢2,312 on each SHS student per year, and this means that government will have to raise GH¢2.8 billion to meet the tuition demands of all the 1.2 million students who will be under the policy from September.
This large number of students who will begin the next academic year in September is the highest SHS population the country will witness since independence. The country currently has in place, the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) that covers primary and junior high education.
It is estimated 50 percent of JHS graduates do not have access to SHS due to lack of funds and accessibility. So, the first year of the program’s implementation saw the enrolment of over 400,000 students in the various secondary schools. Last year, about 500,000 students also benefited from the program.
This year, over 500,000 JHS candidates sat for the BECE, and they will receive their placement into the various SHSs by September. The increase in government spending on education in next year’s budgets the enrolment for SHS is expected up to 1.3 million students.
Already, the government spent about GH¢800 million on the Free SHS policy since its implementation.
In 2018 budget, GH¢455.9 million petroleum revenues were allocated to the Free SHS program. President Nana Akufo-Addo, during the launch of the free SHS policy in 2017, said his government would invest revenues from oil in one of the most ambitious social programs of the country’s history – that is, the Free Senior High School policy.
“The Free SHS is ensuring that the country’s oil revenues are being equitably distributed to the people and not ending up in the pockets of a few”
However, since its announcement that the government intends to use oil money to fund the free SHS policy, there have been criticisms by some civil society groups. That, it is risky for the government to rely solely on oil revenue funding the free SHS program. Insisting the government must diversify its sources in funding for the program, due to the instability of oil prices on the world market.
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Admission Blues Await University Applicants Next Year
An analysis of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee’s Annual Report on Management and Use of Petroleum Revenues for the Period 2018 reveals, the total Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) allocation of GH¢ 419,871,012 was to the education sector, over GH¢ 414.6million was spent on fees for Free SHS beneficiaries and GH¢ 5.2million on expanding existing infrastructure and building new ones.
Compounded by the backlog of students seeking admission
Over 175,000 students who sat for the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate examination and failed the English Language will have to compete next year with more than 400,000 free Senior High School first batch students for the limited space at the country’s tertiary institutions.
A backlog of about 200,000 students, created by merging two batches of SHS 4 and SHS 3 students who sat for the West Africa Senior High School Certificate Examination in 2013, still exists.
The West African Examination Council results of 2019 WASSCE candidates revealed that 100,781 candidates obtained between D7 to E8 in the English Language while 74,038 had F9.
These candidates who failed a core subject—English Language will have to retake and apply for a university next year. A year that will also witness a boom in admission as the first batch of free SHS students expected to enter university.
“Demand for tertiary school admissions in 2020 is expected to be massive as the country awaits the maiden graduation of over 400,000 Free Senior High School (SHS) students who will be applying for entry into the various tertiary institutions”
The reality is that this single batch of free SHS beneficiaries is more in number than the entire student population of the 138 tertiary institutions in the country at the moment.
Expected to heighten the race for university admissions next year is the over 400,000 Free SHS beneficiaries together with the over 150,000 candidates who may not get admitted as a result of the failed English Language subject, this year.
This development puts pressure on Senior High School graduates outside the Free SHS program to do all they can to secure admission into the country’s public and private tertiary institutions this year, or risk competing with over 400,000 Free SHS beneficiaries for limited spaces in tertiary institutions.
Infrastructure neglected
About 99 percent of the oil cash used to support the country’s education budget for 2018 was used to pay for goods and services – mainly for the payment of school fees in respect of government’s Free SHS program, while about 1 percent spent on physical infrastructure.
An analysis of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee’s Annual Report on Management and Use of Petroleum Revenues for the Period 2018 reveals, the total Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) allocation of GH¢ 419,871,012 was to the education sector, over GH¢ 414.6million was spent on fees for Free SHS beneficiaries and GH¢ 5.2million on expanding existing infrastructure and building new ones.
The amount spent on physical infrastructure is worrisome. Given there has been an increased enrolment in SHS students as a result of the government’s Free SHS policy.