President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has firmly defended his government’s Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

President Akufo-Addo was addressing the impact of the free SHS on the national budget during the 2024/2025 Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, on Monday, 9 September 2024.

Amid calls for a targeted approach to the policy, President Akufo-Addo proposed families with the financial means should consider sending their children to private schools.

This suggestion follows recent critiques by Yaw Acheampong Boafo, President of the GBA, who urged affluent families to contribute to educational costs to better support less privileged students.

“People who can afford to pay fees for the education of their wards should send them to fee-paying private schools,” President Akufo-Addo asserted.

According to him, “public schools that are funded by the taxpayer should be free to all who will otherwise be unable to pay for their education.”

The President lauded the policy's success, noting it had dramatically increased access to secondary education.

“The number of pupils who have access to secondary education has doubled since the introduction of the Free Senior High School policy,” President Akufo-Addo disclosed.

With over 5.7 million students benefiting since its launch, President Akufo-Addo emphasised the FSHS policy’s long-term benefits would outweigh concerns from a minority of privileged parents.

“The following impact of this dramatic development will be felt in due course and will far outweigh the small number of privileged parents who can afford to pay for the education of their wards,” he said.