The New Patriotic Party’s running mate for election 2024 Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, under whose tenure the Free Senior High School policy was implemented has acknowledged the policy’s impact while celebrating 7 years of its implementation.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, September 12, Dr Opoku Prempeh, who has been credited for his role in the implementation of the policy despite the challenges it has faced, said, “Exactly seven years ago today, on 12th September 2017, I stood proudly with the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the launch of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) programme at the West Africa Senior High School in Accra.”

According to him, “It was the culmination of six intense months of hard work to give birth to a bold and ambitious vision by the President borne out of a passion to remove the cost barriers to senior high education.

He added, “The sad reality was that hitherto, about 35% of children who had sat the BECE and had been placed in SHS could not take up their place for the primary reason that their families could not afford to pay the fees to enable them to do so.

“Today, thanks to the President’s vision, the narrative is different, in spite of challenges, with the SHS population moving from 800,000 students at the end of 2016 to over 1.4 million today. This is fantastic by any measure.”

According to him, the Free SHS is “undoubtedly the single most impactful social policy ever implemented in our country and Africa south of the Sahara.”

He expressed the hope that under a Dr Mahamudu Bawumia government, a lot more would be done to consolidate the gains made.

“As I reflect with modest pride over the role I was honoured to play in this initiative, I am fortified by the hope this government continues to inspire in our youth through the power of education, and I am convinced that under a Dr Mahamudu Bawumia government, we will do even more to consolidate the gains we have made under FSHS in particular and education in general in our beloved country. Indeed it is possible!