The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has announced that Cabinet has approved a proposal to enact a law making senior high school education free and compulsory.

According to him, this law will also provide legal backing for the policy.

Speaking at the “State of Education in Ghana” program, Dr Adutwum said the initiative represents a significant step toward formalising and sustaining the Free SHS policy.

• Read also: We want to know everything about proposed Free SHS bill – Angel Carbonu

"When you hear of us talking about free compulsory universal secondary education and the enactment of an act to guide and protect free secondary education, we are talking about ensuring that no child has a choice to say, 'I will not go to secondary school.'

"Cabinet has approved the proposal to enact the law that will ensure free and compulsory universal secondary education," he stressed.

The Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe also highlighted the Free SHS policy as a transformative initiative that has enrolled 1.4 million students since its inception in 2017.

"Before the introduction of free secondary school education, a little over eight hundred thousand students were enrolled in senior high schools, today, it is 1.4 million plus. This is a great accomplishment."

Background

Last month, the Majority in Parliament announced that government is ready to introduce a Free Senior High School bill.

This legislation aims to make the free SHS policy binding on successive governments.

The Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, announced this at a press briefing ahead of Parliament’s resumption from break on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.

• Read: Parliament to introduce Free SHS bill to make it binding on successive governments

He indicated that a finalised bill is ready for presentation by the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.

According to him, the move is to prevent any government from attempting to abort the policy.

The Majority Leader insisted that "If we consider it [Free SHS bill] as a House, what that means is that it becomes mandatory for governments to implement this."

"Unless it is repealed, no government would have the right to say, I am not going to enforce Free SHS because now it is law, so if you fail, a citizen can apply to the court and the court can exact justice in that citizen's favour," he said.