Free SHS Guaranteed Quality And Access To Education – NAPO | Education

Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh aka ‘Napo’, the Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has once again, hailed the introduction of the free Senior High School (SHS) programme, saying that the policy has guaranteed quality and access to education in the country.

Napo, who as the Minister of Education, successfully spearheaded the introduction of the famous social intervention programme, said the free SHS policy has helped to remove financial and all other impediments that prevented some students from going to school in the past.

As a result of this, he said enrollment in schools across the 16 regions of the country has increased significantly, stressing that nowadays issues of student dropouts, which were rampant in the past, have ceased, adding that quality teaching and learning is also the order of the day now.

He observed that prior to the introduction of the free SHS policy in 2017, quality and access to education in the country faced some challenges.

Napo, who is the Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), announced that the attainment of quality and access to education through the free SHS policy came from five important pillars, including teachers-tutors, students, curriculum, teaching and learning materials-infrastructure and parents (community and society).

Dr. Prempeh was speaking on the topic ‘Implementing a National Policy for Educational Access and Equity’ as the keynote speaker at the University of Memphis in the United States (US), where he had travelled to for a short visit, on Friday morning.

Throwing more light on the five pillars, which ensured quality and access to education, the ex-Education Minister said the welfare of teachers-tutors was given the utmost attention, which gave them (teachers) the zeal to teach the students effectively.

According to him, virtually all the challenges that could have served as a hindrance to students, notably those from poor backgrounds, from attending school were removed from their path by the laudable social intervention programme.

Napo also said a better curriculum, which had the potential of ensuring a thorough teaching of the students to enable them to compete equally with their peers across the globe, was also created and implemented.

Still, on the five pillars, the NPP vice presidential candidate said all the needed teaching and learning materials, including infrastructure to promote a serene teaching atmosphere and experience in the schools, were also provided.

Napo also stated that the free SHS policy was carefully planned and rolled out in such a way that parents and guardians as well the communities where the schools are situated, were involved to ensure that quality and access to education was achieved.

“By focusing on these pillars, I can confidently say, by the grace of God, we have achieved outstanding results”, the NPP vice presidential candidate indicated.

He added “In the first Free SHS cohort, 411 out of 465 students who earned 8 A1s across all subjects in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) were from Ghana, topping the charts in West Africa—the highest performance ever in WASSCE history. The top three candidates were also from Ghana”.