Over 20 private collapse due to Free SHS – GNAPS

The Ghana National Association of Private Schools [GNAPS], has disclosed that some 23 private Senior High Schools (SHS) in the country have collapsed due to the introduction of government’s free Senior High School policy.

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the President of the Association, Eric Appiah, said that the free SHS programme has reduced enrolment in private SHS in the country.

“What we have said and continue saying is that the policy is not a bad one, but to roll out a policy without the private senior high schools in Ghana is quite unfortunate…Some schools are folding up regarding enrollment which is quite unfortunate. We had a little over 200 private schools across the country, but as I speak to you about 23 have folded up.”

Even though Mr Appiah did not have the names of the specific schools that had collapsed, he called on the government to partner with them in the implementation of the Free SHS policy to keep Private Senior High Schools in business.

“All over the world, economies that are thriving are involved in public-private partnership. The Senior High Schools have to be included. How is government introducing free SHS while leaving private schools out? We are engaging government, and we hope that come academic next year, the government will involve us just like the Health Insurance also includes private hospitals and private clinics.”

When the Akufo-Addo-government introduced the Free SHS policy, some heads of private Senior High Schools appealed to the government to extend the policy to their institutions.

There are close to 1,000 secondary schools in Ghana.

Of the number, 562 are public, while the 301 are private schools.

Statistics available suggests that, whereas over 740,000 students gain access to public secondary schools, only 1,300 go to the private ones.