GH¢9.9bn spent on free SHS

• Posted on July 25, 2024July 25, 2024
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has disclosed that a total of over GH¢9.9 billion has been spent on the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.

According to him, the impact of the programme is evident, with the initiative having benefitted a cumulative total of 5.7 million young people, many of whom may not have had this opportunity.

Presenting the 2024 mid-year fiscal policy review of the government in Parliament yesterday, the Finance Minister said President Nana Akufo-Addo had stayed on course for almost the past eight years since announcing the policy of Free Senior High School in 2008.

“On March 2, 2017, the Government allocated GH¢400 million to implement Free SHS. We also indicated that our oil resources will fund the programme, as the President believes that every Ghanaian child must benefit from the oil resources,” he said.

“Mr. Speaker, to complement this effort, we have provided facilities under TVET to empower our young people with employable skills; with 168,000 students enrolled in the 2023-2024 year,” he said.

Additionally, Dr. Amin Adam stated that the government was constructing 10 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) schools and 10 STEM centres across the country, and pointed out, “And we have distributed 900,000 tablets for secondary school students.”

The minister noted that quality education had been given considerable focus, pointing out that the performance of the students at WASSCE in 2023 is also the best since 2015.

He said the government had over the last eight years prioritised education, and this is to ensure that over time, skills will be improved to impact productivity, grow the economy and improve living standards.

Capitation Grant

The Finance Minister noted that to ease the financial burden on parents and guardians of public basic school pupils, the government disbursed about GH¢38 million as Capitation Grant for the first half of 2024 to ensure schools have adequate resources to provide quality education.

“Additionally, funds have been released for the payment of feeding grants  to all public Special Schools (Institutions for the Handicapped) for the 2024 academic year, thereby supporting vulnerable students,” he asserted.

He noted strongly that the capitation grant has increased from GH¢5.00 in 2016 to GH¢15.00 in 2024.

School Feeding Programme

He said the Ghana School Feeding Programme commenced in 2006/2007 with 1,950 beneficiaries, but over the years, there has been considerable growth of the programme from 1.6 million beneficiaries in 2016 to over 3.8 million beneficiaries in 2023, and is currently in the region of 4 million beneficiaries as of June 2024.

“In one year, we have added over 200,000 children. Mr. Speaker, an amount of over GH¢662 million was paid to caterers as at June 2024.

“The Programme continues to provide employment for over 34,000 caterers and cooks, especially women to generate income to enable them to take care of their families. The Programme has also created a ready market for local farmers thereby boosting the local economy.”

LEAP

Dr. Adam said to protect the real value of the benefits for the most vulnerable households, the government has in the last two years increased the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) grant by 200% from GH¢64.00 in 2022 to GH¢256.00 in 2024.

He explained that this means that the government has doubled the grant every year for the last two years.

“This measure ensures that the programme’s outcomes are effectively achieved. Under the enhanced LEAP, the number of beneficiary households has increased from 212,917 in 2016 to 324,073 in 2024,” he stated.

 By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House