It's heartbreaking to witness that, despite the promise of Free SHS, education has become more financially burdensome than ever.Just a few years ago, in Opoku Ware School, students paid about GH₵500 per term.
Over three years, that added up to around GH₵4,500 for a full secondary education.
Now, under Free SHS, the costs are merely disguised, with parents still shouldering a significant financial strain, hidden beneath layers of bureaucracy and unexpected expenses.Today, this so-called Free SHS program primarily benefits students in government schools, while students from private schools-no matter how well they perform-are often relegated to their last-choice schools or, worse, assigned to schools they never even selected.It feels as though the system has been designed to enable corruption, with middlemen swooping in to "secure" top-category schools for families who can pay the price.
And that price is no small matter: placements in Category A schools through these "protocols" can cost between GH₵15,000 and GH₵20,000.