The Conference of Heads of Private Secondary Schools (CHOPSS) has called on the government to expand the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy to include more approved private secondary schools across the country.
The association says several private schools have available infrastructure and facilities that could help address capacity challenges in the public secondary education system.
The call follows the government’s decision in July 2025 to extend the Free SHS policy to 60 approved private secondary schools across Ghana’s 16 regions under a pilot integration programme.
The initiative was introduced partly to reduce congestion in public SHSs and provide more students with access to secondary education.
Speaking on TV3’s Daily Brief on Monday, August 31, 2026, CHOPSS Head of Communications, Kyei Baffour, said the programme had so far been beneficial to participating private schools.
“It has been helpful. At least, we have made fruitful use of the facilities of these private schools which were left unused,” he said.
According to him, a number of private secondary schools still have unused classrooms and other facilities that could be utilised to accommodate students.
“We still have more private schools still on standby, ready to absorb the rest of the students,” Mr Baffour added.
He argued that expanding the partnership could help government address overcrowding in public SHSs without having to immediately invest heavily in new infrastructure.
Mr Baffour therefore appealed to the government to consider bringing more qualified private secondary schools into the Free SHS programme.
“We still call on government that since these facilities exist, we can leverage on these facilities and absorb them,” he said.
CHOPSS believes greater collaboration between the government and private secondary schools could make better use of existing educational infrastructure while helping to ensure that more qualified students secure placement in senior high schools.
