President Nana Akufo-Addo has said that the performance of students under the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) has shown that the government is upholding quality in the implementation of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) programme.

He said the performance of the 2021 batch of students, who were the pioneers of the double-track system, “which elicited much vilification and unfounded criticism of its introduction” was also one of the best in the country’s recent history.

He compared the performance of FSHS beneficiaries with those without the FSHS saying it was better under the FSHS. “There can no longer be any controversy about the validity of the FSHS.”

He emphasised: “It is working. Let us forgo partisan parochial considerations, and agree that FSHS has to be a part of our national educational architecture for at least a generation if not forever, for our nation will clearly be empowered.”

He was addressing the 70th Anniversary of the establishment of the Tamale Senior High School (TAMASCO) in Tamale, on Saturday.

President Nana Akufo-Addo announced: “In 2022, the government will expand the FSHS programme to cover all first-year students of Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutes.”

TAMASCO was the first educational institution established in the then northern territory of the Gold Coast, now Ghana.

The event was also attended by the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa, who are all alumni of TAMASCO.