, the Flagbearer of the , has faced significant criticism for his proposal to include private schools in the Free SHS initiative.
During an engagement with the clergy at the Great Hall of KNUST on November 11, 2024, Mahama questioned why the government had excluded private schools from the Free SHS programme.
According to him, many parents have moved their children from private to public schools to take advantage of the Free SHS initiative, a shift he argued has led to overcrowding in some schools due to the high demand. "When government started the Free SHS, they excluded the private schools.
In Nzema, for example, there was a private school with many students, but after the Free SHS initiative began, parents withdrew their children and enrolled them in government schools.