Education Minister  Haruna Iddrisu has rebuffed claims that the government did not allocate a budget for the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.

During the Finance Minister’s budget presentation on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, November 13, he mentioned that the Free SHS will be funded through GetFund as about a billion cedis has been allocated to the Education support fund.

Mr Iddrisu, on Wednesday, November 19, at a press conference held in Accra, where the Minister provided clarity on the education sector allocations in the 2026 Budget, explained that the misconceptions surrounding the Free SHS allocation are practically impossible.

“The Ghana Education Fund has been allocated 9.9 billion, including 4.2 billion earmarked for Free Senior High School and free TVET infrastructure and services. I’ve heard commentaries suggesting that there is no allocation for Free SHS. That is not practically possible,” he explained.

There were claims from the Minority in Parliament and some civil society groups that the government did not make a direct budgetary allocation for the Free SHS programme in the 2026 Budget. The Minority Caucus argued that while the government highlighted GSLIP and infrastructure expansion, it failed to earmark explicit funds for Free SHS in 2026. They claimed this omission suggested the government was outsourcing Free SHS financing to donor support rather than sustaining it with domestic resources.

The Minister said, “The budget is always done for and on behalf of the President of the Republic, which was his first budget. When the GETFund formula gets to Parliament, you will see the actual numbers,” the Minister added.

He stated that President John Mahama, in the 2025 Budget Statement, outlined a significant policy shift, moving the financing of Free SHS from petroleum revenue to GETFund.

“From 2018 to 2024, Free SHS was largely financed from the country’s petroleum revenue. The shift now is that GETFund will provide the financing. When the GETFund formula gets to Parliament, you will see the actual numbers,” he said.

The Minister added that the allocation will also cover student feeding and support the rollout of free tertiary education for persons with disability.

He noted that the Student Loan Trust Fund and the soon-to-be-established Ghana Scholarship Authority will collaborate on disbursement processes to ensure the initiative is effectively implemented.

The Free Senior High School policy was introduced in 2017 by the Akufo-Addo-led government to make secondary education accessible to all eligible students without financial barriers.

The policy was aimed at helping students who struggled to pay tuition, boarding, and other school-related expenses. However, the policy came with its challenges, such as overcrowding and congestion in schools, pressure on infrastructure and facilities, and increased pressure on teachers.

This increased the number of enrollments in the senior high schools that were listed under the Free SHS policy. About 3.5 million students have benefited from the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) program since its launch.

The immediate-past government revealed that it had spent over GH¢12 billion on the implementation of the Free SHS policy since its inception. Meanwhile, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has urged a reassessment of Ghana’s Free SHS initiative, recommending that households with sufficient means contribute financially so that government support can be directed toward students in real need.

During a meeting with Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu, the Asantehene suggested a shared funding model, akin to previous arrangements where financial aid was granted to bright but disadvantaged students, while those with the ability to pay covered their own expenses.

“Those who can afford to pay, let’s have a second look at the policy. If someone can afford it, let’s allow them to pay. In the old times, when you passed, the bursary would look for good but needy students and award them scholarships, and those who could afford to pay did so.”

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has recognised the positive impact of the Free SHS policy but stressed the importance of a national discussion to tackle its shortcomings and secure its future.

“This Free SHS we are talking about, although we have implemented it, if we have a dialogue and find out that it will result in students coming home now and then because there is no food, then it is not fit for purpose.”

He also pointed out several pressing concerns affecting secondary schools, including overcrowded dormitories, a lack of well-equipped science and ICT laboratories, irregular food supplies, and insufficient school buses.

“Our dormitories are overcrowded and lack science and ICT labs. Sometimes, PTA makes contributions to support. The lack of school buses and the shortage of food should all be looked at. Let us implement it well so that students will stay in school and have enough to eat.”