Free SHS in numbers: enrolment, completion and exam entries
Senior high gross enrolment rose from 36.1 in 2009/10 to 62.6 in 2018/19, and WASSCE entries grew 68 percent from 2016 to 2025. The official series stops at 2018/19.
Senior high enrolment, net enrolment and completion, 2009/10 to 2018/19
Senior high gross enrolment ratio
62.6%
2009/10: 36.1%
2018/19: 62.6%
2018/19: 62.6%
Senior high net enrolment ratio
33.7%
2009/10: 18.5%
2018/19: 33.7%
2018/19: 33.7%
Senior high completion rate
55.9%
2010/11: 33%
2018/19: 55.9%
2018/19: 55.9%
Ministry of Education ESPR 2015, 2018 and 2019. Completion starts in 2010/11.
The figures
| Senior high gross enrolment ratio | Senior high net enrolment ratio | Senior high completion rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009/10 | 36.1 | 18.5 | n/a |
| 2010/11 | 36.5 | 24.3 | 33 |
| 2011/12 | 37.1 | 23.6 | 34 |
| 2012/13 | 36.8 | 23.6 | 31 |
| 2013/14 | 43.9 | 21.8 | 40 |
| 2014/15 | 45.6 | 22.5 | 44 |
| 2015/16 | 49.6 | 25.2 | 46 |
| 2016/17 | 50.1 | 26.5 | 48 |
| 2017/18 | 55.9 | 29.2 | 49.9 |
| 2018/19 | 62.6 | 33.7 | 55.9 |
Senior high ratios, 2009/10 against 2018/19
Levels in each year, not proof of what caused the change. Ministry of Education ESPR 2015 and 2019. Completion is compared from 2010/11.
The figures
| Senior high ratios, 2009/10 against 2018/19 | 2009/10 | 2018/19 |
|---|---|---|
| Gross enrolment ratio | 36.1 | 62.6 |
| Net enrolment ratio | 18.5 | 33.7 |
| Completion rate | 33 | 55.9 |
WASSCE school candidates entered, 2016 to 2025
Published by the exam board or ministryAs reported in the press
WAEC press releases for 2023 and 2024, press reports of WAEC statements for the other years. Growth from 2016 to 2025: 68 percent (our calculation).
The figures
| WASSCE school candidates entered | |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 274,262 |
| 2017 | 289,210 |
| 2018 | 316,999 |
| 2019 | 346,094 |
| 2020 | 375,763 |
| 2021 | 446,352 |
| 2022 | 422,883 |
| 2023 | 448,674 |
| 2024 | 460,611 |
| 2025 | 461,736 |
What the data show
- The senior high gross enrolment ratio rose from 36.1 in 2009/10 to 62.6 in 2018/19. The net ratio rose from 18.5 to 33.7. The completion rate rose from 33.0 in 2010/11 to 55.9 in 2018/19.
- WASSCE entries rose from 274,262 in 2016 to 461,736 in 2025. That is 68 percent more, by our calculation from those two counts.
- The gender parity index at senior high moved from 0.85 in 2009/10 to 0.95 in 2018/19. A value of one means equal numbers of girls and boys.
- The official series we hold stops at 2018/19, early in the life of the policy. We show the figures side by side. We do not draw a line between before and after as proof that Free SHS caused any change.
- The World Bank counts 3,334,409 pupils at secondary level in 2024. We cannot split that count into junior and senior high, so it does not measure Free SHS.
- Two things are missing. We hold no official enrolment series after 2018/19, and no regional detail. We also hold no sourced figure for the cost of Free SHS or for the number of students it supports.
What the data cannot say. We cannot say that Free SHS caused the rise in enrolment, completion or exam entries. The series shows what happened and does not separate the policy from other changes. We cannot say what happened to enrolment after 2018/19. We hold no official enrolment series after that year. We cannot say how many students benefit from Free SHS, or what it costs. We hold no sourced figure for either. We cannot give regional detail on senior high enrolment. The regional ratios appear only as charts in the Ministry reports.
Questions people ask
- How many students benefit from free SHS?
- We hold no sourced count of students who benefit, so we do not give one. What we hold is the senior high gross enrolment ratio, which was 62.6 in 2018/19, up from 36.1 in 2009/10.
- How much does free SHS cost?
- We hold no sourced cost figure, so we do not state one. We will add it when we have a source from the Ministry of Education or the education budget.
- When did free SHS start?
- None of the Ministry of Education documents in our dataset gives a start date, so we do not state one here. The Graphic Online headline for the WAEC release on the 2020 exam calls it the first free SHS WASSCE.
- Has free SHS increased enrolment?
- The senior high gross enrolment ratio rose from 36.1 in 2009/10 to 62.6 in 2018/19, and the net ratio from 18.5 to 33.7. The official series stops there, so the data cannot show what the policy alone did.