The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah has disclosed that, Government’s flagship policy Free SHS has enrolled 109, 857 pupils since the inception of the policy.
Taking his turn on the Minister’s Press Briefing organized by Ministry of Information, the Minister expressed his appreciation for the benefit the region has received.
The Government introduced the Free Senior High School education policy in September 2017, a campaign promise during the 2016 general election but then Candidate and now President Nana AKUFO-Addo.
In a powerpoint presentation, the Minister gave a breakdown of educational facilities and enrollment from Kindergarten to Senior High school.
According the Minister, the region has a total of 7,159 public educational institutions with a total enrollment of 1,317,240 pupils.
Focusing on Free SHS, Simon Osei Mensah said, government enrolled 67,120 students in the first year. He said this number comprised of 34,969 boys and 32,151 girls.
This number increased in the following year with 82, 984, a 23.6 percent increase from the 2016/2017 academic year.
The following academic year saw a 26.8 percent increase in enrollment registering for the first time over 100,000 students under the program in the region.
With a 6% dip in enrollment numbers in the 2019/2020 academic year, the 2020/2021 academic saw a 2.8% rise in students’ population.
The minister confirmed that, the student’s population in the 2021/2022 academic year saw an increase from 101,074 to 109,857
The current SHS population has the boy out numbering the girls slightly with 55,496 and 54,361.
Source: theGhanaianvoice.com