Minister-designate for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has stated that the government plans to thoroughly review the Free Senior High School (SHS) program to make it more sustainable and reliable.Speaking at his vetting before Parliament's Appointments Committee on Monday, January 20, 2025, he stressed the need to secure stable and sufficient funding for the program.

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"With emphasis on the future of the Free Senior High School in particular, how to assure it of adequate, reliable, sustainable financing, we will undertake a stakeholder forum which will involve donors and partners, involve academia, parents and students, to review the Free Senior High School (SHS) program. I should acknowledge that it remains one of the boldest steps in wanting to transform

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education.

was a matter of debate between free, universal education, absorbing all the costs, and progressively free, starting with infrastructure. But President Mahama intends to undertake a comprehensive review of it to make it sustainable," he noted.The Free SHS program, launched by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2017, was designed to make senior high school education more

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accessible to students across the country.Although the policy has led to a rise in enrollment, there are ongoing issues with feeding, education quality, and funding.During the 2024 election campaign, President John Dramani Mahama pledged to continue supporting the program, promising that it would undergo necessary reforms to tackle these challenges.

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