The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has expressed strong reservations about the government’s decision to include private schools in the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

The Association warns that such a move could aggravate the strain on educational resources and undermine efforts to strengthen public schooling.

The government maintains that extending the Free SHS initiative to private institutions is part of a wider strategy to increase access to secondary education and ease congestion in public schools.

Deputy Minister for Education, Dr Clement Apaak, announced the policy direction on 27th May during the launch of revised school selection guidelines for candidates preparing to sit the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Dr Apaak explained that integrating private schools into the programme aligns with efforts to expand capacity and gradually eliminate the double-track system.

“As part of our campaign promise, we’ve worked diligently to bring private senior high schools on board. Meetings and engagements have been held, and we are confident that with the commitment from both sides, private schools will deliver,” he said. “This step will also help us eliminate the double-track system.”

However, GNAT’s General Secretary, Thomas Musah, has voiced concerns over the decision, stressing the potential implications for funding and resource allocation within public schools.

“We don’t want the situation where tomorrow the government will come and tell us that there are no resources to teach in the public schools, and so we are adding on to those that parents have to pay. Already we have been calling for parents who can pay fees to pay, or should be made to make some contributions,” he remarked.

Mr Musah further cautioned that the policy could become an added burden rather than a solution.

“We have not yet been able to get all these things done. So, to be adding on to the already existing burden will be serious, and I have some difficulty with it,” he added.