85% Ghanaians Want Free SHS Maintained – Afrobarometer Report

The latest Afrobarometer report has revealed that 85% of Ghanaians expressed widespread support for continuation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, including other key government initiatives aimed at improving the lives of Ghanaians.

The report, released yesterday by the Pan-African survey network, also showed 81% want government to continue with the Planting for Food and Jobs, 71% want One District, One Factory, while 60% also want the government’s One Village, One Dam policy to continue as well.

The Afrobarometer team in Ghana, led by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), said the team interviewed a national representative sample of 2,400 adult Ghanaians in August 2024 with a sample size that yields country-level results, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

It also said 41% of Ghanaians mentioned unemployment as the most frequently cited problem that needs to be addressed by government, followed by infrastructure which recorded 38%, and healthcare with 33%.

The report also stated that apart from the 79% of Ghanaians who want the electronic transactions levy (E-levy) to be scrapped, seven in 10 Ghanaians “say they or someone in their household went without a cash income at least once during the previous year, reporting shortages of medical care at 54%, water 44%, food 44%, and cooking fuel also at 42%.

“Ratings of the government’s economic performance are overwhelmingly negative. Fewer than two in 10 Ghanaians rate the government positively on managing the economy (19%), creating jobs (18%), improving living standards of the poor (17%), narrowing gaps between rich and poor (11%), and keeping prices stable (8%).”

The report revealed that although unemployment was a priority for Ghanaians amidst strong support for key government initiatives, only 4% of Ghanaians considered wages and income, while 5% considered crime and security as the most important problems for them.

The Free Senior High School (SHS) education policy in Ghana is a government initiative introduced in the 2017 academic year by President Akufo-Addo, and has benefited over three million Ghanaian students since it started.

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Nine survey rounds in up to 42 countries have been completed since 1999.

Round 10 was launched in January 2024. Afrobarometer’s national partners conduct face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice. Previous surveys were conducted in Ghana in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2022.

Source:dailyguidenetwork.com