CRISTAL BALL ON FREE SHS: TAILWINDS AND HEADWINDS

By Gideon Odoba Amissah 2019

INTRODUCTION

According to Robert Mugabe, “How do you convince the upcoming generation that education is the key to success when we are surrounded by poor graduates and rich criminals?” This quote proffers some fetters to the nexus between education and success. However, according to Kofi Annan, “Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornertones of freedom, democracy, and sustainable human development.”

Article 25(1)(b) of the 1992 Constitution provides that, “All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities and with a view to achieving the full realization of that right, secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education”.

Under the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution, Article 38 (3)(a) provides one of the educational objectives of as, “The State shall, subject to the availability of resources, provide equal and balanced access to secondary and other appropriate pre-university education, equal access to university or equivalent education, with emphasis on science and technology.”

According to the Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (2017- 2024), education is a key aspect of development. It is the vehicle through which knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and character are acquired to build the human capital necessary for socio- economic development.

It is instructive to note from the foregoing that the importance of education as the best route to moving out of poverty and surge development could not be overemphasized. National policy priority to education would also afford the country the opportunity to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development 4, which is to the effect that, countries are to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all before 2030.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah once said, “we shall measure our progress by …, the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education…” I believe it is with this view that the President at the launch of the free SHS noted that the cost of providing free secondary school education 1

would be cheaper than the cost of the alternative of an uneducated and unskilled workforce that had the capacity to retard development.

BACKGROUND TO THE FREE SHS

The Free SHS (Free Senior High School) policy is a of Ghana initiative introduced by the President Nana Akufo-Addo administration in September 2017. The program was officially launched on at the West Africa Senior High School same. The policy had been a major campaign policy prior to the election of President Akufo-Addo in 2016. The Free Senior High School programme is a flagship intervention by the Government to widen the gates of opportunities to every child, especially those whose talents are arrested because of poverty.

The 2017 World Bank Human capital index Ghana ranked at 72 out of about 130 countries compared with Malaysia which is ranked at 33. According to the 2018 Human Development Index, Ghana is currently ranked 140 out of over 190 countries across the globe with Malaysia being ranked at 56. The comparison with Malaysia has become necessary owing to the fact we had our independence in the same year, 1957. It has been reported by UNICEF that about 63 million children are currently are out of school.

It is estimated that close to 50 percent of JHS graduates who pass do not have access into SHS, due largely to lack of funds and accessibility. For instance, from 2013-2016, the percentage of pupils who were placed in SHS but did/could not access secondary education is about 27.3%. That is about 100,000 out of 400,000 pupils. Such reports should be of necessary concern to all well-meaning citizens of Ghana. Consequently, there is the need to deliberate on the free SHS program.

The approach adopted by the author in discussing the topic is largely hinged on policy evaluation. This approach is deemed as apposite owing to the targeted audience. The scope of the presentation would basically touch on the headwinds and tailwinds of the free SHS program. The write-up also briefly looks at the basic and tertiary education policy reforms. The source of information is largely through the traditional media.

GOVERNMENT’S POLICY ON EDUCATION

According to the Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (2017- 2024), Government policies for education will focus on improving inclusive and equitable access to and participation in education at all levels; intensifying education in science, mathematics, and technology at all levels; raising the quality education at pre-tertiary level, with emphasis on mathematics and science; facilitating the implementation of the language policy;

2

strengthening the school management system; and ensuring sustainable sources of financing for education.

Key strategies to be implemented to achieve these objectives will include: making secondary level the first terminal point of education by redefining basic education to include secondary education; undertaking curriculum reforms with emphasis on competency in reading, writing, arithmetic, creativity at primary level, and introduction to history of Ghana, French and optional Arabic language at pre-tertiary level; implementing free SHS to remove cost barriers at secondary school level, thereby expanding free and compulsory education to all Ghanaian children up to senior high school; ensure inclusive education for children with special needs.

Other strategies will include; popularizing and demystifying the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and ICT education in basic and secondary education to include programming and robotics; revamping existing public TVET institution; implementing accelerated programs for teacher development and professionalism, and engage citizens who can think critically.

Government has revealed it will reintroduce the issuance of national certificates aside the WASSCE, as part of the rolling out of new curriculum for basic schools. According to the Education Minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the certificates will be a prerequisite for gaining employment in the country.

BASIC SCHOOL REFORMS

As stated supra, basic education is being redefined to include the senior high schools, hence the need to consider policy reforms in the sector. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) in collaboration with Ghana Education Service has introduced a new curricular. The new curriculum has been quality assured by Cambridge international. According to the National Pre-tertiary education frame work, the new curriculum would be a Standard Based Curriculum as against the previous Objective Based Curriculum. The difference is that new system assessment would be based on competence whist the previous system is based on knowledge. This appears as a reintroduction of a national assessment. The ministry is developing an assessment framework that will bring national assessment from primary 2, primary 4, primary 6, JHS 2 and SHS 2 that will lead ultimately to a national high school certificate.

This system will reintroduce the history of the nation to the children, and make sure that the kids grasp our values as a nation from an early stage, know where we started, and where we are going. These same curricula, as it was prepared by Ghanaian experts, would change the face of education and imbibe some moral values and aid them to be critical thinkers in the country. With the introduction of the new curricular and national assessment system, it appears B.E.C.E would be scrapped within the next 3 to 5 years. About 152,000 teachers from Kg1 to primary 6 have been trained on the new curricular. Every teacher is to be provided with Teacher Resource Pack (TLMs). The challenge has been the unavailability of the textbooks and TLMs as school reopens.

3

It has been reported that the Capitation Grant has been increased to GH¢10. The school feeding program is also ongoing. School uniforms are being provided for the students. The government has introduced the teacher licensure examination. Although this scheme experience resistance from some newly trained teachers the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the National Teaching Council (NTC) insisted anyone who wanted to be hired by the GES after training must write. This is necessary.

The government has justified a privatization plan of some public schools, insisting the public no longer trust government-run schools. Standards are believed to have fallen in publicly managed schools. The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) and Coalition of Concerned Teachers said, this policy empowers the private operator to decide if it wants to work with Ghana Education Service (GES) staff including heads. This calls for stakeholder consultations.

THE FREE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

To understand the concept of the free SHS policy one may have to consider some presentation from the President as the main proponent of the program. Below are some excerpts from the President during the launch of the policy in 2017 at the West African Senior High School.

“Today, we throw open the doors of opportunity and hope to our young people… We have a sacred duty to our children and the generations beyond in ensuring that, irrespective of their circumstances, their right to education is preserved,”

“I want every Ghanaian child to attend secondary school not just for what they learn in books, but for the life experiences that they will gain. I want each of them to look in the mirror in the morning, every morning, and know that they can achieve anything they dream of when they complete their studies.

“I want them to be confident that what they study is relevant to the demands of today, and of tomorrow. I want every Ghanaian child to be comfortable in the knowledge that, when they work hard, they will be as capable as anyone else in the world. And I want parents to look upon their children with pride, as they watch them mature into self-confident adults,

The goal of the policy appears to guarantee every Ghanaian child a minimum of secondary school education and for education to help children escape poverty, and provide them the avenue to a good life. Under the Policy, all cost barriers to education have been absorbed by the Government. The objective is to improve quality of education, address equity issues associated with education in the country and, importantly, ensure that every child acquires employable skills by the time they leave school. The Free SHS Policy is also expected cover pupils who gain admission to technical, vocational and agricultural institutions.

Under the program, exercise books, school uniforms, and core textbooks including supplementary readers are expected to be supplied to every student to help enhance learning and performance. It has been reported that Government is currently considering supplying questions and answers as model questions and answers and chief examiner’s report to every student in the 4

country, so that whether there is a teacher or not, there would be no excuse for the students not to revise and become familiar with the questions that had been asked since 1993 when we started Senior High School. Under the scheme day schools are expected to be given one hot meal a day. The Free Senior High School (FSHS) is reported to have been built on five pillars: equity, expansion and infrastructure, quality education, access and skills development.

Although the policy is supposed to make secondary absolutely free, there are some additional financial contributions parents are asked to pay by some headmasters. The Government has dismissed head teachers of some secondary schools in the country over extortion in the admissions under the free SHS policy and other school administrators have been interdicted. The full stream of the free senior high school begun last year September. It has been reported the total number of students in public SHSs to about 1.2 million nationwide. This figure is possibly unprecedented since independence. For example, between 2014 and 2016, the total population in all schools in the country, was about 800, 000 students.

TAILWINDS

It has been reported that, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Mrs. Henrietta Holsman Fore, has extolled President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo for the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy, the benefits of which, she said, were immense, especially for girls. Mrs Fore described the policy as probably the greatest gift President Akufo-Addo could give to the Ghanaian family and the girl child.

She said the policy was bound to ensure that the girl child would not become a young mother and a young bride, while reducing or preventing maternal deaths. Mr Henry Kerali, World Bank former Country Director for Ghana has described Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy (Free SHS) as an initiative that will give girls the chance to acquire employable skill sets before reproduction. He said such empowerment would better prepare them for motherhood, reduces high birth rate, maternal mortality and boost the Human Capital Index (HCI).

The ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Ghana, His Excellency Shi Ting Wang, is on record to have praised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his government’s flagship program, Free Senior High School. The Chancellor of Perez University College, Bishop Charles Agyinasare, is also reported to have urged Ghanaians to support Free Senior High School policy, describing it as “laudable”. Some the tailwinds to the program include inclusive education, pro-poor oriented, increase in enrolment, improve health indicator, and increase in gross tertiary enrolment ratio.

 Inclusive education

One of the basic advantages of the free SHS is its function as a pro-poor policy. It has been reported of a 51 year woman taking advantage of the free SHS by enrolling on same. We have been informed that, Government has also reserved 30 per cent of placements in the top 82 senior high schools to students from basic public schools. Currently, these top schools are almost wholly populated by students from junior high private schools with good performance at the

5

Basic Education Certificate Examination, relative to the basic public schools. The President is on record to have said, “Under the Free SHS Policy, we will ensure that students from basic public schools have equal opportunity to enroll in any of the top senior high schools in the country,”

 Increase in Enrolment

The program has also increased enrolment. The Minister for Education has said that enrolment in our senior high schools has gone up by 50% since the policy was introduced and this policy has come to stay. Thus, it appears to have given a chance for teenagers who would have most likely dropped out of school at the most formative years of their lives. The percentage of students placed in SHS but not enrolled has falling to 14% from an average of 27%.

 Educated mothers

We have been told that research had shown that a secondary educated mother did certain things very well. Hence we will now begin to see the level of improvement of our health indicators. With high number of educated mothers, the maternal mortality could potentially go down because they understood certain basic things. It could be accepted that secondary education improves health indicators.

 Gross Tertiary Indicator

Secondary education will offer us the opportunity to build a bridge to tertiary which will tie in with our gross tertiary enrolment ratio. This is a very critical indicator of the transformation of a country, for instance, that currently Ghana had a gross tertiary enrolment of 16.19 per cent, while South Korea had 93 per cent and US 85 per cent..

HEADWINDS

One may not be reasonably objective to believe that the free SHS is without challenges. The President is on record to have ascertained that the implementation stages of the policy may face challenges despite the efforts put into seeing it through. He said, “We may falter, but, by the grace of the Almighty God, we shall not fall, for we will be ready, in all humility, to accept inputs and criticisms aimed at improving the Policy.”Some the headwinds to be considered include, funding, sustainability, infrastructure, double track system, computerized placement system (CSSPS), stakeholder agitations, and tertiary institution foreseeable challenges.

 Funding/Sustainability

On the funding mechanism to sustain the policy, the President said proceeds from Ghana’s natural resources would be utilized to educate the populace to drive Ghana’s economic 6

transformation. The President said at the launch that “Instead of the revenues from our mineral and oil resources ending up in the hands of a few people, the most equitable and progressive way of using these revenues is to educate and empower our population to strengthen our nation,”

Other means proposed by the Ministry of education to fund the project are capping of the GET fund at 25%, Partial Securitization of GET Fund Receivables for infrastructure development, and support from Development Partners. The Finance Minister in the 2018 budget proposed a voluntary contribution Fund. Government will need about GH¢2.8billion, to cater for all the 1.2 million Senior High School (SHS) students under the flagship policy for the 2019/2020 academic year, since Ghana spends about GH¢2,312 on each SHS student per year. Thus in the 2019 budget, about GHC1.682 billion was earmarked for the implementation of the Free SHS programme. This figure appears represent about 2.9% of estimated revenue and grants of about GHC 58 billion. Thus, one may not support the assertion that funding free SHS extremely limits our fiscal space.

It may however, seem that about 30% to 40% the budgeted cost for the free SHS is from the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA). This is because in the 2018 budget, GH¢455.9million of petroleum revenues was allocated to the Free SHS programme. According to the Public Interest and Accountability Committee’s Annual Report, this figure represents about 98.75 percent of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) disbursement to the education priority areas. This oil cash used was used to pay for goods and services – mainly for the payment of school fees, with a little over 1% (GH¢5.2million) going into physical infrastructure. This percentage on physical infrastructure is worrying, given that there has been a major increase in enrolment of SHS students as a result of government’s Free SHS policy.

There has been criticism by some civil society groups that it is risky for government to rely solely on oil revenue to fund the Free SHS programme; insisting that it must diversify its sources of funding for the programme due to the instability of oil prices on the world market. The Minister of Finance appears to be in agreement with the suggestion that the Free Senior High School programme may have to be targeted at persons with genuine need and not made to benefit everyone.

One may submit that other innovative measures should be considered to generate more revenue for funding the program. We may consider the approach of Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) and NHIS. We could deliberate on National Educational Insurance Scheme. Also, one would support the call for parent’s Tax Identification Number as prerequisite for assessing the free SHS scheme. This, I believe, would help us have a sustainable source of funding for the program in addition to the current sources.

 Infrastructure

On the issue of whether or not we have to wait till we get our entire infrastructure in place before implementing the project, it has been indicated that when the Northern grants were established by Ghana’s first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, there were only two schools in the whole of the 3

7

Northern Regions. I think I agree with this position. At the launch of the free SHS, the President disclosed that as an important step towards quality Free SHS programme, government would upgrade 42 existing senior high schools to model schools. One strategy of government appears to be securitizing the Ghana Education Trust fund (GET fund) to cater for the infrastructure development of schools, thus allowing government to focus on the real needs of the students.

It was estimated by the Ministry of education before the implementation of the program that about 622, six unit classrooms block, 181,993 student mono desks, 3730 teacher table and chairs, 415 dormitories, 51,868 bed bunks would be required for a successful implementation. This may cost the nation a little over GHC 1 billion. We got to know about this figure in 2017, what have we done about it?

One would submit that Government should give some attention to investing in the expansion of school infrastructure such as additional classroom blocks and dormitories, and the completion of the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools. This I think, would enable all our children attend school at the same time and have adequate contact hours with their teachers

 Double Track

One may not be oblivious of the fact that the double track was implemented because of the increase in enrolment coupled with inadequate infrastructure. In order to curtail this headwind, the Ministry of Education proposed the adoption of the Double-track School Calendar in 2018.

The ministry of education defined the Double-track calendar as an intervention that allows schools to accommodate more students within the same facility and is often motivated by its potential to improve overcrowding as well as to save costs relative to new school construction in the short term. The objectives of the Double-track School Calendar are: Create room to accommodate increase in enrolment; reduce class sizes; increase contact hours; and increase the number of holidays. Countries that have adopted the system include Australia, Costa Rica, Japan, United States, and Kenya.

The Double Track System is in two sessions: The Green Track and The Gold Track. The Green Track represents the first batch of students who would go to school for a semester and are later followed by the Gold Track students who would continue after students of the green track session have vacated on the academic calendar. Under the Double-track school calendar, the candidates will spend 162 days (between 41- 57 days) in the classroom with 1,134 teaching hours instead of the 180 days with 1,080 teaching hours under a Single-track school calendar.

Teaching hours are expected to increase from 1,080 hours per year under the current trimester system to 1,134 hours per year under the proposed double-track system. It has been reported, that under the Double Track school system, about 8,000 teachers have employed.

Currently 395 SHS out of the about 700 SHS are doing double track system and as the years go by and their infrastructure situation improves, they would be weaned off back to the single-track system. The Ministry of Education has stated that the double-track system is bound to take about

8

five to seven years before it would be totally eliminated. Some of the SHSs had had an upgrade of their infrastructure needs and might be moved out of the double track. Phase out of the double track would be based on individual schools and not a wholesale issue.

This system has been criticized to be confusing. I think I agree. The ministry of education may admitt that the double-track system is one of the complex problems currently facing the Ministry. The cause of this challenge, to my mind, is the lack of empirical policy research in our parts of the world. The effect is pressure on existing education infrastructure and the various staff. One would submit that, if it is GHC1billion that would be required for this efficient implementation of the program, then it should be our priority as a nation. After all, we have used almost GHC 20billion to clean the banking sector mess.

The System has also been critiqued to be financially demanding of parents as when children come home they may have to be registered for private classes, but the monies pumped into putting them in these classes are far more than what parents would have paid as school fees for the old SHS system.

 Computerized Placement System

Notable among the teething problems of the implementation of the free SHS is the selection process although the system existed prior to the free SHS program. The placement process is made up of automatic and self placement. Previous school placement exercises have been characterized by queues by parents at the offices of the placement secretariat (recently black star or independence square) with a wide range of complaints. Some of the complaints have to do with no placement of school, change of school due to distance from home and other personal reasons. The effect of this has been alleged extortion, bribery, and corruption.

I think when it comes to the selection and placement processes, some of the challenges that we face are due to the choice process as well as the system (CSSPS). Parent must make sure they know exactly what course their children are choosing and which school they are choosing. Parents and guardians would be entreated to pay attention to the selection of schools for their wards. Policy makers would also be entreated to work with retrospection, introspection and circumspection since we have been doing this for almost fourteen years.

 Stakeholders Agitations

The Ghana Association of Private Schools have complained that government has failed to engage them despite several calls on authorities over the collapse of their schools following the introduction of the free senior high policy. The private secondary schools enroll about 50,000 students and provide employment for 10,000 teachers. The Conference of Heads of Private Second Cycle Schools (CHOPSS) have complained the Private Senior High Schools will fold up in the next few years if the Free Senior High School programme continue. I am not sure how this would be feasible without any imprudence on public fund.

9

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) says the decision by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to sideline teacher unions on discussions regarding the organization of vacation classes for Form 2 Senior High School (SHS) students is a clear violation of the collective agreement which set forth the conditions of service relating to salaries, wages, hours of work among other things.

It is instructive to recognize and appreciate the importance of social dialogue, cooperation, trust, respect, good faith and the need to uphold these virtues in their policies and standards of management. A stakeholder consultation with parents, teachers and educational experts to identify and eliminate all the bottlenecks that are affecting the implementation of free SHS programme will not be out of place.

All matters connected with the conditions of employment of the teaching personnel should be conducted through the joint standing Negotiating Committee, comprising representatives of GNAT, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT)-Gh and the management of the GES.

 Tertiary Education Reforms and foreseeable challenges

The government has launched the Ghana Tertiary Education Policy, which aims to set clear guidelines for the ultimate structure, planning, development, regulation, operations and overall governance and accountability of the tertiary education system; to respond effectively and sustainably to the needs of the learning society and knowledge-driven economy. On the Tertiary Education front, Government has hinted that there were some reforms that would be rolled out to help the government have an eye on some executions being done within the public universities.

By the year 2020, demand for tertiary school admissions is expected to be massive; as the country awaits the maiden graduation of over 400,000 Free Senior High School (SHS) students who will be applying for entry into the various tertiary institutions. The reality is that this single batch of free SHS beneficiaries are more in number than the entire student population of the 138 tertiary institutions in the country at the moment.

The 138 tertiary institutions, including colleges of education and nursing training, have an entire student population of 320,746 covering all batches, and they have the capacity to admit about 100,000 students yearly as a result of limited infrastructure. This means that in 2020 these institutions will not even be able admit half of the over 400,000 students who are expected to apply for admission into the various tertiary institutions.

This, however, means that government should be double funding on infrastructural development of tertiary institutions to enable them absorb this large number of students under the policy. A counter-argument would be that it is not all the 400,000 SHS graduates that will be expected to have tertiary education.

But the Trades Union Congress (TUC) argues that a secondary school education is not enough to

10

produce requisite human resources for the accelerated industrialization government itself seeks. Government, the TUC argues, must, therefore, embark on rigorous infrastructural expansion in the various tertiary institutions to enable them admit the historic number that will be searching for higher education in the near-future. I can identify myself with assertion.

 Teaching Staff Reforms

Government has introduced of a 4-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree in 2018, in the country’s University Colleges. Thus, there is no teacher going to be a diploma teacher. Everyone who is coming out will get a degree. The government has paid the legacy arrears of teachers’ salaries since 2017 (some since 2012). However, we are being told that, there are still few of its members whose salaries arrears that had not been paid. The policy which resulted in the accumulation of the arrears has virtually being scrapped, we have been told.

Another project which is having a toll on the aspirations and welfare of teachers is the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) which is being implemented by the Public Services Commission (PSC) as part of the Public Sector Reforms.

Government has trained of teachers in the new curriculum of junior High School last year. It has been reported about the non training of teachers in the curriculum of Junior High Schools for some forty (40) years, with the last teacher resource pack given to teachers compiled in the 1950s.

CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATIONS

Bishop Agyinasare said, “We, as a country, must look beyond politics and resolve to ensure that any policy meant to better the lot of the future generation, irrespective of which government initiated it, is entrenched and supported to work to the benefit of those who need it most. And from all indications, the Free SHS policy is one of such. Let us, as a united country, help smoothen any rough edges, if there are any, and make it the envy of the entire continent and the world at large”,

Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante, Chairman of the National Peace Council, has said the Free Senior High School policy introduced by the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government is good but should not compromise on quality education. I also think there is also not only the need for extensive stakeholder consultation with key stakeholders imbedding in policy roll out empirical research.

11