The education think tank Eduwatch has released its first major review of Ghana’s Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.

The study, titled “A Financial Burden Analysis of Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy,” highlighted several key findings and challenges confronting the policy.

According to the findings by the think tank, 194,862 students could not honour their admissions despite secondary education being free.

The figure spans between 2019 and 2023.

“Between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 academic years, 194,862 candidates did not honour their admissions at first instance into second cycle schools,” the report read in part.

Also, the report discovered that between the 2017/18 and 2021/22 academic years, even though GH¢ 7.6 billion was allocated, only GH¢5.3 billion was expended on the policy, averaging GH¢1.06 billion per annum.

It further revealed that the average government spending per student under the free SHS policy between the 2017/18 and 2021/22 academic years was GH¢1,241, with parents spending GH¢ 4,185 per annum.

As part of its recommendations, the think tank has asked the Ministry of Education to focus more on the needs of children from the poorest households, using data from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme as a point of entry.

It also asked the Ministry of Finance to improve the disbursement of funds under the Free SHS policy.

It said the timely availability of funds (especially at the school level) to procure items that were previously smuggled into the prospectus is critical to sustaining compliance.