Impact of free senior high school education on access and quality of education in public senior high schools: The case of the Tamale metropolis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of Free Senior High School Education on access and quality of education in the Tamale Metropolis. The target population of the study was all the Public Senior High Schools in the Tamale Metropolis. Simple random sampling was used to select four schools and the proportionate allocation method was used to select 375 students and 151 teachers based on their respective strata from the schools. The four head teachers were purposively selected. Data was collected using questionnaires for students and teachers, and interview schedule for heads. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the quantitative data. The statistics used include frequency counts and percentages. The qualitative data was analysed by organising them into similar themes. The study established that there has been a marginal increase in the number of students accessing senior high education since the Free Senior High School Policy was introduced in the 2017/2018 academic year. The study also established that sanitary facilities are inadequate; the classes available are few, leading to overcrowded classes. Besides, textbooks are very few for all the subjects making students unable to complete assignments in time. The school libraries are too small to accommodate all the students and overcrowding contributes to noise and poor class control. The study recommends that the government should allocate resources including funding and qualified teachers to schools to ensure that Free Senior High School Education runs smoothly without compromising quality of education. Heads of schools should enroll students based on resources and teachers available to avoid overcrowding schools and overworking teachers. Guidance and Counselling offices should be provided in schools by the Ghana Education Service, supervision should be vigorously undertaken, there should be regular in-service training programmes for teachers and educational administrators to make them effective and efficient on their jobs.