Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy: The Case of Two Municipalities in Greater Accra Region.

Abstract

Article 25 of the 1992 constitution calls for the introduction of Progressive free education in Ghana. In response, the government of the New Patriotic Party in 2017 introduced the Free Senior High School Policy. The Free Senior High School Policy has been in existence for nearly five years and has received varied feedback in the media landscape of Ghana among stakeholders on the success and challenges of the policy. In recent times, the Free senior high school policy has come up for media discussion following reports of food shortage in the senior high schools around the country. These reports make a clarion call for the review of the policy. However, what is clear from the foregoing is the lack of empirical data to inform some of the stakeholders’ discussion on the policy. Few studies about the policy have mainly explored teachers’ perspectives on the implementation of the double track system in Ghana (Mensah, 2019) and on the impact of free senior high education (Duflo et al., 2021). However, studies on stakeholders’ perspectives on Ghana’s Free Senior High School policy is missing. This study therefore set out to explore the perspectives of stakeholders regarding the FSHS policy in the Ga West and Ga Central Municipalities in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The objectives were to: find out the benefits associated with the implementation of the FSHS policy, challenges associated with the implementation of the FSHS policy and to explore recommendation by stakeholders in the implementation of FSHS policy. Basic interpretative qualitative research design was employed for the study. A purposive sampling technique was adopted to select 30 participants for the study. This was against the backdrop that the researcher needed to select participants who possessed characteristics critical for the study. Data was collected utilizing face-to-face interviews with the aid of a semi-structured interview guide. Data were analysed using Charmaz’s (2006) three-stage thematic standard coding. The results of the study showed, since the introduction of FSHS policy there have been remarkable increase in enrolment, completion rates and over all, the policy has eased the financial burden of parents and guardians. The findings further indicate that the FSHS policy has brought in its wave challenges including teaching related issues, infrastructural challenges, delay in disbursement of funds, and lack of proper monitoring and collaboration with the school management committee. Additionally, the findings revealed that monitoring of the policy, expansion in infrastructure, and prompt release of funds as recommendations by stakeholders. The study recommends that government should ensure there is an opportunity to consult with stakeholders on the issue of sharing the cost with them. Also, the study recommends that the Ministry of Education employ more teachers and recruit national service personnel as support teachers to reduce the workload on teachers.