Mid-Year Budget Review: GHS9.9 billion spent on Free SHS since 2017

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of Finance, says the Government has spent GHS9.9 billion on the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy since its implementation in September 2017.He said 5.7 million young people had benefitted from the initiative, many of whom may not have had the opportunity.The Minister said this during his presentation of the 2024 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament. He said to complement that effort, the Government had also provided facilities under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme to empower young people with employable skills, with 168,000 students enrolled in the 2023-2024 academic year. 'Additionally, we are constructing 10 STEM Schools and 10 STEM Centres across the country, and we have distributed 900,000 tablets to secondary school students.''Quality education has been given considerable focus. The performance of the students at WASSCE in 2023 is also the best since 2015,' he added.Mr Adam said the Government had disbursed about GHS38 m illion as Capitation Grant for the first half of 2024 to ensure schools had adequate resources to provide quality education. He said funds had been released for the payment of feeding grants to all public special schools for the 2024 academic year in support of vulnerable students.'Mr. Speaker, it is worth noting that the capitation grant has increased from GHS5.00 in 2016 to GHS15.00 in 2024,' he added.Source: Ghana News Agency