FREE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL POLICY AND RESOURCE UTILIZATION IN GHANAIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: A STUDY AT SAGNARIGU MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

This research investigates the implications of Ghana's Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy on educational resource utilisation, focusing on its impact within the Sagnarigu Municipality. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, the study integrates qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data from 206 participants across four mixed public senior high schools. The sampling strategy included purposeful sampling for qualitative results from key stakeholders and stratified sampling for quantitative data (Ankamah et al., 2023; Ghana Education Service, 2024). The findings show four significant findings regarding the demographic characteristics of participants, indicating a gender imbalance, with males representing 57.28% and females 42.72%. The age distribution shows a predominance of younger educators, with 35.9% aged between 25 34 years, suggesting that many are early in their careers and may have varied perspectives on the FSHS policy's effectiveness (Government of Ghana, 2021). Significantly, 100% of participants reported that the FSHS policy had affected their workload, with 68.9% indicating increased teaching hours. These increased responsibilities have raised concerns regarding teacher fatigue and declines in educational quality (Tawiah & Addai-Mensah, 2023). Regarding resource allocation, a substantial majority (72.8%) of participants felt that teaching and learning resources were insufficient to meet the demands of the FSHS policy. This inadequacy poses challenges for effective implementation and may hinder academic performance (Abdul-Rahaman et al., 2018). Furthermore, while 83.5% prioritized procurement of teaching materials, only 36.9% believed financial resources were adequate, highlighting significant concerns about funding sufficiency under the FSHS initiative (Shamo, 2023). Based on these findings, the study recommends: Increased government investment in educational resources to support effective FSHS policy. Strategies to manage teacher workload, such as recruitment of additional staff or workload redistribution, to maintain instructional quality.