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.
