A former Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has accused President John Dramani Mahama of attempting to undermine the significant strides made under the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
Mr Fordjour argues that the introduction of cut-off points as part of the SHS admission process would serve as a deliberate obstacle, effectively dismantling the policy and removing opportunities for thousands of students.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Thursday, Rev. Fordjuor asserted that the success of Free SHS lies in its core principle of equity, ensuring all qualified students, regardless of their socio-economic background, have the opportunity to continue their education beyond basic school.
He warned that the reintroduction of a cut-off system used to determine eligibility for SHS placement based on certain academic standards would be a setback.
“This is just an avenue for President John Mahama to mutilate the sterling monumental free SHS policy, this is just going to be an excuse to abolish it,” he stated.
He added “free SHS is free SHS because of its essential component of equity of access.”
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He referenced data from the period before Free SHS was implemented, highlighting a concerning statistic: from 2012 to 2016, more than 150,000 students who completed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) were unable to continue to SHS due to the imposition of cut-off scores.
“Data suggested that the cut-off system, among other barriers, accounted for over 150,000 students who would complete BECE but would be unable to proceed to SHS before the introduction of SHS. From 2012 to 2016, that was the data,” he explained
He stressed that this system created barriers, preventing deserving students from gaining access to further education, thereby limiting their future opportunities.
He emphasised that this policy was designed to ensure that every student, no matter their background, would have the chance to advance in their education and realise their potential.
The former Deputy Minister reiterated that such a move would be a deliberate attempt to exclude certain groups of students from accessing secondary education.
“It is just a man-made deliberate attempt to remove certain categories of people from getting to SHS,” he concluded.
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