Claim: Free SHS will be difficult to sustain because of inadequate funding
Source: X
Verdict: False
Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu
A quote card by Daily Insights GH, shared by some X users, claims that President John Dramani Mahama has said the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy will be difficult to sustain due to inadequate funding.
The quote card was shared on August 30, 2025, with captions such as “The NDC government is considering the cancellation of FREE SHS. Apparently, schools have been given cut-of entry for admission. We shall have more street boys and girls very soon. Meanwhile, the Accra regional minister is interested in Oobake & Akwaaba.”
“This is the end of those of us from poor families, our educational journey ends at JHS now!” another user captioned his post.
The two X posts as at August 30, 2025 had together garnered 346 comments, 84 reshares and 723 likes.
Fact-check
First, GhanaFact found that Daily Insights GH, the platform cited as source of the current claim, had not published any material on its X handle since July 30, 2025.
However, it is important to highlight that Daily Insights GH has been on GhanaFact’s red list of platforms that spread misinformation.
Also, after thorough research on the internet and credible news sources, GhanaFact found no instances of the president publicly stating that ‘Free SHS will be difficult to sustain because of inadequate funding.’
The team has identified that the visual card is a recirculation of false information produced on December 23, 2024. GhanaFact debunked the claim on December 25, 2024.
Recent news on the Free SHS programme
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has recently spoken about the allocations of funds and projects by the institution.
On August 31, 2025, the GES shared key updates on activities for the new SHS academic calendar, highlighting a key update of a one billion disbursement to the Free SHS programme.
Meanwhile, President Mahama, during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on February 27, 2025, assured citizens that the free SHS programme will not be cancelled.
“I, John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, will not cancel the free SHS programme,” he said at SONA.
Verdict
Therefore, claims that President Mahama said Free SHS will not be sustained are false and a recirculation of a debunked flyer.
