Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has described the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy introduced under former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the most far-reaching social intervention in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.
Speaking at the Young Commons Forum held at the University of Cape Coast on Saturday, February 21, the Effutu Member of Parliament said that despite ongoing public debate about the policy, its impact on access to secondary education remains undeniable.
According to Afenyo-Markin, the initiative significantly transformed the landscape of secondary education by opening opportunities to students who previously faced financial constraints.
He acknowledged that major public policies often attract criticism but maintained that the scale and reach of the Free SHS programme distinguish it as a defining legacy of the Akufo-Addo administration.
“The critics can be loud and say all they can about the Free SHS but by far, without arguments, it stands as the most emblematic social intervention of the Akufo-Addo administration. And without subjecting it to any further argument, the most consequential social intervention in Ghana’s Fourth Republic,” he stated.
He further emphasised that by eliminating financial barriers at the secondary level, the programme drastically expanded access for students from low-income households who might otherwise have been excluded from senior high school education.
The Free SHS policy was implemented in 2017 shortly after President Akufo-Addo assumed office, as part of a broader commitment to reduce inequality in educational access and build a more skilled and competitive workforce.
Since its introduction, the initiative has enabled hundreds of thousands of students to enrol in senior high schools nationwide, reshaping educational participation patterns and becoming one of the most recognisable programmes of the administration.
