The Chairman of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Professor Ato Essuman, has said that the free Senior High Schools (SHS) programme is inadequately funded, something which has become a major challenge to most schools.

According to him, financing of SHS in the country has become political and this could inadvertently affect the development and acquisition of skills by students in the schools.

Speaking at a forum dubbed ‘Achimota Speaks’ under the theme, “The Governance, Management and Financing of Secondary Education in Ghana”, Prof Essuman questioned how financing and resources are distributed to schools to aid in the development of students in schools.

“The inadequacy of sustainable financing for secondary education is a major challenge in the running of schools. Indeed, decisions about education financing have become unnecessarily political”.

“And with the introduction of free SHS, spending on schools at the secondary level has become more political than ever”, he added.

He said the current free SHS programme has been saddled with skills development challenges and the lack of resources.

Prof. Essuman consequently called on the government to review the secondary school policy in the country and address all challenges bedeviling it.

He cautioned that more funds need to be invested into education to procure the right and needed resources for secondary schools to improve skills development that would contribute to economic development in the near future.

The forum was chaired by Professor Ernest Aryeetey, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana and President of the Old Achimota School (OAA).