The Akufo-Addo led government has announced that GHS453 million ($103m) of the country’s oil revenue will be used to fund the free senior high school programme this year.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko, at a special roundtable meeting with some oil giants on the sidelines of the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas.

Mr. Agyarko who was wooing players in the oil and gas industry to take full advantage of opportunities in the country and invest in that sector indicated that the oil revenue is being put to good use.

The amount which is more than twice the figure it spent on the programme last year, some GHS198 million ($45m) is expected to improve the free SHS programme for the next academic year.

In January this year, the government released GHS35.9 million to cover second term operational and administrative costs for public second cycle schools under the Free SHS programme.

Head of Communications at the Free SHS Secretariat of the Ministry of Education, Josberta Gyan Kwakye, said the amount would cover about 489 schools.

She also explained that the initial 20 percent sent to the schools in September 2017 “was based on raw estimations because as of the time we were releasing the funds, we didn’t have the exact enrollment numbers so it was more of an approximation.”

She said the Ministry has also paid GHc3,392,031 as arrears for 264 schools during the first term.