Re-examining Equity and Quality in Fee-Free Secondary Education: A Narrative Review of Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy

• In Event: Global perspectives on schools, belonging, and identity in African and Afro-diasporan contexts

Proposal

Introduction
Fee-free secondary education has become a prominent reform strategy in sub-Saharan Africa to improve access and equity (World Bank, 2005; UNESCO, 2017). Evidence from Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda shows that removing fees increases enrolment, especially for marginalized groups, but often strains infrastructure, overburdens teachers, and risks eroding quality without complementary investments (Aluko & Adan, 2015; Kalunda & Otanga, 2015). Ghana’s Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy, launched in 2017 to fulfil constitutional commitments and Sustainable Development Goal 4, is one of the region’s most ambitious reforms. It eliminated tuition, boarding, and examination fees for all public Senior High School (SHS) students to enhance equity and human capital development (MOE, 2017). Enrolment rose by 11% in its first year, yet studies report implementation challenges, including overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure, and reliance on the double-track system to manage capacity (Mohammed & Kuyini, 2021; Chanimbe & Dankwah, 2021). Social Justice Theory and the Capability Approach (Fraser, 2008; Sen, 1999) stress that access must translate into meaningful learning opportunities. In Ghana, this goal is constrained by rural–urban disparities, gender inequities, and uneven teacher distribution (Ahonsi et al., 2019; UNESCO, 2017). While Free Senior High School (FSHS)is central in policy debates, research remains fragmented, often addressing access or funding in isolation. A systematic synthesis is needed to assess how Free Senior High School (FSHS) has shaped equity, quality, and efficiency, and to guide future reforms in Ghana’s secondary education.
Accordingly, this systematic review asks:
I. How has Ghana’s Free SHS policy advanced or constrained access, equity, quality, and efficiency in secondary education?
II. What are the key strengths, challenges, and trade-offs documented in the existing literature on FSHS?
Methods
This study adopted a narrative review design, appropriate for synthesizing literature where studies differ in scope, methods, and theoretical orientation (Greenhalgh et al., 2018; Snyder, 2019). Literature was searched across Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and data bases (ERIC, JSTOR, Scopus) through the university library search system, for studies published between 2017 and 2025 as the policy was given full scale introduction in 2017 in Ghana. Inclusion criteria required studies to a) focus specifically on Ghana’s Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy; b) be peer-reviewed journal articles and c) address issues of access, equity, quality, or efficiency in Ghana. Studies were excluded if they were a) peered reviewed; b) examined fee-free policies outside Ghana; c) focused solely on other educational levels (primary or tertiary); and d) were not empirical studies. A total of 34 studies met the inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis was applied to analyzed the data and present the findings. The analysis was framed by the education production function, which links educational inputs to outputs such as enrolment and achievement (Hanushek, 2020), and social justice theory, particularly Sen’s Capability Approach and Fraser’s redistribution-recognition-representation model, which emphasize fairness and inclusion in educational opportunities (Sen, 1999; Fraser, 2008; Unterhalter, 2019).


Findings
Ghana’s Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy substantially widened access to secondary education by removing tuition and related fees, leading to an 11% increase in enrolment in its first year (MOE, 2017). This expansion particularly benefited low-income and rural households previously excluded due to financial barriers. Yet, the surge in enrolment outpaced investments in infrastructure and teacher recruitment, resulting in overcrowding, reduced instructional time under the double-track system, and persistent shortages of teaching and learning resources (Mohammed & Kuyini, 2021; Chanimbe & Dankwah, 2021). Equity outcomes also remain uneven: elite urban schools adapted more successfully than under-resourced rural schools, where gender disparities linked to dropout pressures and early marriage continue to disadvantage female students (Ahonsi et al., 2019). From an efficiency perspective, while household financial burdens were eased, public expenditure rose sharply, raising concerns about long-term fiscal sustainability and implementation gaps such as uneven teacher deployment and delayed resource distribution (World Bank, 2014). Comparative experiences from Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania suggest similar trade-offs when access expands without corresponding capacity-building (Kalunda & Otanga, 2015).

Conclusion
Viewed through social justice theory and education production function, the findings highlight that access alone does not guarantee meaningful educational opportunities. For FSHS to fulfil its promise, equitable distribution of teachers, infrastructure, and learning resources is essential to ensure all students, not just those in better-resourced settings, can develop the capabilities required for lifelong learning and social mobility. Ghana’s experience shows that fee-free reforms, while transformative, require sustained investments in capacity-building, teacher development, and targeted support for marginalized groups. Lessons from FSHS carry broader relevance for African policymakers seeking to balance access with equity, quality, and efficiency in scaling universal secondary education.

Authors

• Stephen Kwame Ameko, Utah State University

• Rebecca Y Bayeck, Utah State University