Responding to access and beyond in Fee-free policies: Comparative Review of Progressive Free Senior High and Free Senior High School policies in Ghana

The study compares two fee-free policies at the upper secondary level in Ghana on how they responded to access and the policymaking processes in education. Secondary sources of data were used, while Haddad and Demsky’s framework of education policymaking served as the theoretical basis for textual data analysis. The results show that Free Senior High School policy responded to the program output of an increase in access, unlike Progressive Free Senior High policy. However, the inconsistent release of funding and limited stakeholder consultation are common features of the policies. It is further observed that the desirability of access is over prioritised in the current Free Senior High School policy, leaving gaps in educational facilities and resources during policy decision. To address these challenges, sources of funding must be re-assessed for possible policy redesign that invites consumers of the policy who opt for boarding status to absorb a proportion of boarding fees.