Eligibility

Every Ghanaian child who is placed into a Public Second Cycle Institution by the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) during the 2017 school placement is eligible to enjoy the Free SHS.

Duration of Funding for beneficiaries

Beneficiaries of this government scholarship will enjoy it for  3 years.

Equitable Access

30% of places in elite schools will be reserved for entrants from public Junior High Schools.

The free SHS policy aims to take out the element of cost as a barrier to education. Under this policy, ever Ghanaian child who attains the pass mark, as agreed for the year by Ghana Education Service Council, will enjoy a three-year scholarship for secondary education.

To access the scholarship, the student would have to print the placement form and report to the school. The head of the school will then check the Student Information System (SIS) to confirm the placement. The SIS is designed to give real time updates on students who have been placed in a school at a particular time.

The school heads would not need to have an updated list printed and manually delivered to the school anytime a student is placed there. The SIS would also enable the heads enrol the student electronically so at any time, managers of the policy would know the exact number of students placed in a school to facilitate the disbursement of funds and other resources like school uniforms, text books, exercise books etc.

Under Free SHS all fees recommended by GES Council for SHS students, other than PTA dues will be absorbed by Government. These include: One-Time Fee Items for 1^st Year students, all recurrent Fee Items and Feeding Fees. Fees for 1^st year students for 2017/2018 academic year are as follows:

One-Time Fee Items for 1^st Year students.

• Day – GH¢435.00
• Boarding – GH¢438.00

All recurrent Fee Items.

• Day – GH¢101.47
• Boarding – GH¢105.47

Feeding Fees: 

3 meals for boarders (GH¢4.80 / day) and 1 hot meal for all day students (GH¢1.60/day).

PTA Dues: 

The government has agreed to pay GHC 20 per year to replace the portion of PTA dues dedicated towards teacher motivation. PTA dues are no longer mandatory and parents who cannot afford to pay any GES approved PTA dues are duly exempted from it

HEAD OF SCHOOLS.

Heads of schools will continue with their traditional roles of managing the day to day affairs of schools

In 2017/2018 academic year, implementation of Day/Boarding placement will be in accordance with existing guidelines.

CAUTION :

Rent seeking for the placement of students in boarding facilities will be severely sanctioned.

DISBURSEMENTS PROCEDURES.

Disbursements procedures will follow existing guidelines and practices and will be based on signed school list and submission of returns and requests backed by appropriate documentation.

There will be two disbursements in the term. An initial advance apportionment at the beginning and the remaining upon submission of returns and details on student’s information within two weeks after enrolment start date.

FEEDING AND FOOD SUPPLIES

Strictly Day Schools: One hot meal will be served students in day schools. Food vendors are contracted to serve one hot meal at the school

Boarding Schools: Food items are supplied by suppliers that are registered with National Food Buffer Stock Company to supply non-perishable food to boarding schools.

To ensure economies of scale, procurement will be done at two levels; centrally and the school level.

For 2017/2018, items to be procured centrally include:

1. Exercise books
2. P.E. kits
3. Note Books
4. Supplementary Readers
5. Textbooks
6. Technical Drawing Instruments
7. Technical Drawing Board and Tee Square

For 2017/2018, items to be procured at the school level include:

1. School cloth
2. School uniform
3. House Dress
4. Food Supplies
5. Food vendors