The free senior high school policy in Ghana has drawn criticism from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which claims that despite increasing enrollment, the policy is not well targeted.
“Ghana spends close to 4 percent of GDP on education with good results in terms of enrollment but poor learning outcomes. The flagship programme Free Senior High School (SHS), which covers the full cost of secondary education, has helped increase enrollment but is poorly targeted,” before the nation’s $3 billion bailout was approved, the IMF stated in a country report.
The report also noted important areas of “potential improvement of education spending include strengthening primary education resources, better teacher training, and stronger performance-based funding practices.”
Former President John Dramani Mahama has repeatedly stated that the free SHS policy will be reviewed by the following NDC administration led by him.
Under the NPP-led administration, Mahama pledged to fix the National Health Insurance Scheme and the problematic Free SHS policy.
Since the program’s launch in 2017, the government has invested more than GH10 billion in free SHS.
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Regarding health, the IMF stated that only 50% of the population is covered by Ghana’s National Health Insurance program, despite it being expected to be universal.
Even though Ghana has generally good health outcomes, access disparities are still a major problem, according to the report.
“The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is meant to be universal but only covers half of the population. Identified reform priorities include increasing the NHIS coverage, securing its long-term funding, and expanding its basic care package.”
In a related news, Ghana received the first payment of $600 million from the $3 billion credit facility of the International Monetary Fund on Friday, May 19, 2023, barring any last-minute hiccups.
On May 18, the IMF team and Ghana’s Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, held a press conference together.
