Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has described the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy introduced under former President Nana Akufo-Addo as the most impactful social intervention in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.
Addressing participants at the Young Commons Forum at the University of Cape Coast on February 21, 2026, the Effutu MP maintained that although the programme continues to generate public debate, its influence on access to secondary education is unquestionable.
He said the initiative significantly transformed the educational landscape by eliminating financial barriers that once prevented many students from advancing beyond the basic level.
According to Afenyo-Markin, the scale and nationwide reach of the Free SHS programme distinguish it from other public policies implemented since the return to constitutional rule in 1993.
He argued that while criticism is inevitable in policymaking, the programme’s results speak for themselves.
“The critics can be loud and say all they can about the Free SHS but by far, without arguments, it stands as the most emblematic social intervention of the Akufo-Addo administration,” he said.
He further described it as “the most consequential social intervention in Ghana’s Fourth Republic,” emphasising that the removal of fees at the secondary level opened doors for thousands of students from low-income households.
Introduced in 2017 shortly after President Akufo-Addo took office, the Free SHS policy was designed to reduce inequality in access to education and build a more skilled workforce.
Since its rollout, the programme has enabled hundreds of thousands of students across the country to enrol in senior high school, reshaping participation in secondary education and becoming a defining hallmark of the former administration.
