Free SHS policy commended

• Posted on December 19, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

IMF Managing Director, Ms. Christine Lagarde, has lauded the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy and urged Ghana to find a sustainable way of implementing it, which she noted, could play a pivotal role in improving educational outcomes.

Speaking at the Future of work in Sub-Saharan Africa Conference organized by the IMF in Accra on Monday, she said, the FSHS policy is a good example of the focus needed in educational policy, particularly at the secondary level, to help build a skilled labour force to harness the benefits of new technologies.

Ms. Lagarde noted that despite successes in primary education, sub-Saharan Africa still lags behind in secondary education, with only 30 per cent of its children in secondary school – the lowest in the world – hence the need to focus there.

“One example comes from right here in Ghana. The government recently introduced the ambitious free Senior High School program. This program can play a pivotal role in improving educational outcomes if implemented in a sustainable way,” she noted.

She said harnessing the potential of new technologies for the future of work required a well-trained labour force with the right skills, which means that education has to be a key priority.

“This includes not enrolment, but also promoting digital literacy and identifying skills that would help the next generation to work with technology,” she added.

Ms. Lagarde was in Ghana on a two-day state visit as part of a four-nation African tour, ahead of Ghana’s completion of its IMF programme.