Ghana's tertiary enrollment rate continues to fall despite the implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) policy, according to the education think tank Africa Education Watch.
In a recent Facebook post, Kofi Asare, the Executive Director of the education think tank Africa Education Watch, highlighted worrisome statistics indicating a drop in the percentage of students transitioning from Senior High School (SHS) to tertiary studies in Ghana.
As per Asare's post, the second batch of free SHS graduates, who completed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2021 with a total of 446,000 candidates, witnessed only 164,000 (36%) proceeding to tertiary education in the 2021/22 academic year.
Alarming data from 2022 suggests that approximately 280,000 SHS graduates were unable to pursue tertiary education during that period.
The decline in the transition rate has been attributed to financial challenges faced by needy students, shedding light on the inadequacy of the Student Loan Scheme (SLS).
Asare emphasized that the average student loan of GHC 2,000 per year can only cover the cost of tertiary education for two months, while the annual expense amounts to about GHC 15,000.
To address this issue, the education advocate is calling for a repositioning of the SLS, urging it to first support financially needy prospective tertiary students in becoming students and advocating for economically responsive loan amounts.
As Ghana aims to achieve a 40% gross tertiary enrollment rate by 2030, Asare underscores the need to recalibrate the posture and financing mechanisms of the SLS, emphasizing that improvements in secondary-tertiary transition are crucial as a value addition to the free SHS policy.
