My Free Secondary education promise won’t be a mirage-Akufo Addo

Details

Category: The ClassRoom

Created on Sunday, 23 September 2012 00:00

Hits: 5063

My Free Secondary education promise won’t be a mirage-Akufo Addo

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has assured Ghanaians that his campaign promise of free secondary education would not be a mirage when given the nod in December this year.

“I want to assure the youth of this country and for that matter the entire Ghanaian population that my free secondary education promise will not be an empty promise as the elements of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are trying to portray,” he emphasized.

He has therefore appealed to Ghanaians to vote for him come December 7, to be able to implement it and bring smiles on the faces of Ghanaians who could not afford secondary education for their wards.

Nana Akufo Addo gave the assurance when he addressed a large crowd of students from Koforidua at the swearing in ceremony of All Nations University branch of Tertiary Student Confederacy (TESCON) of the NPP, on Friday as part of his campaign tour of the Eastern Region.

The NPP presidential candidate began his campaign tour of the region on Tuesday and has so far visited Oda, Swedru and Ofoase Ayirebi constituencies.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}The free secondary education promise by the NPP presidential candidate had been criticized by the ruling NDC as an impossibility now because the second cycle schools in the country seriously lack class room infrastructure and if implemented, only a small proportion of the population would benefit.

Nana Akufo Addo said Ghanaian voters should ignore people who doubt the feasibility of the free secondary education policy.

He said the governing party lacked the moral right to raise issues of infrastructure to justify their argument and that when the policy takes off in 2013, it would include the provision of needed infrastructure.

Nana Akufo Addo said his government would also ensure that quality education was provided to produce the necessary human capital for economic growth.

According to Nana Akufo Addo, it was necessary for every Ghanaian child to have access to free education and therefore assured that when voted into power come December 07, he would fulfill his promise to provide free senior high school education to all Ghanaian children.

He therefore called on Ghanaians not to pay attention to statements coming from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) that he was only bragging and that the provision of free secondary education to Ghanaians was not achievable in this present time.

“I want to assure you that now is the time for free secondary education because Ghanaians cannot wait for the NDC’s twenty years before enjoying free secondary education,” he said.

Nana Akufo Addo is being accompanied on the tour by Mr Lord Commey, Director of Operations for the campaign team, Mr Dan Botwe Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere, Mr Abu Jinapor, member of the campaign team, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, former MP for Akyem Oda, Mr Felix Owusu Agyepong, former MP for Akyem Swedru, National Women Organizer, Madam Otiko Ogyaba, some MPs and all regional executive members of the party.

He later introduced the parliamentary candidates for the New Juaben North and South, Nana Kwasi Agyei Boateng and Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, respectively.

Source: GNA/Ghana

No comments

The 2012 NPP Manifesto

Details

Category: The ClassRoom

Created on Sunday, 23 September 2012 00:00

Hits: 5621

23 September 2012

The 2012 NPP Manifesto

THE 2012 NPP MANIFESTO PROPOSALS ON EDUCATION; THE VIEW OF AN SHS GRADUATE.

This is the first manifesto I have ever read and the impression I take away from it is one of audacity and dreamy ambition. Quite reminiscent of the language of a young revolutionary who has been swept into power on the wave of popular youthful adoration.

The most poignant of the itenary of promises was Nana Addo's Free Senior High School Education Program. Spontaneously, it brought back memories of my high school days when we had lengthy, vigorous debates over what the duration of Senior High School Education should be. Lessons from those debates do not make me doubt in any terms the importance of such a policy, but rather, its position of urgency ahead of a contingent of very basic demands of our ailing educational system.

While it is not known publicly what research informed the proposition of this program, or whether the funding exists for its implementation, other pressing questions regarding the feasibility of the extent of “freeness” this very generous policy promise can deliver on need some careful thinking around.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}Page twenty three (23) of the NPP’s Manifesto, under FREE UNIVERSAL SECONDARY EDUCATION states that "...By free S.H.S. education we mean free tuition, admission, textbooks, library, science centers, computers, examinations utilities, boarding and meals." My personal experience with admission into Ghana National College showed that much of the freebies quoted in Nana Addo’s program though widely considered as free at the time, still required that I make substantial payment on other aspects of that education. Progressively my school bill included items such as incentive quotas for teacher motivation, House dues (for residency) and its associated maintenance costs and honorariums for House Masters, Maintenance fees to insure against damage to school property, charges on general material supplies by the school, sick bay charges and miscellaneous items such as our school vests. My bill was not spared even levies to the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly, for reasons which still remain unclear to me.

This is just a cursory look at the basic expenditure associated with an admission to a public Secondary School, or at least in my experience.

But Nana Addo’s campaign is promising to foot all that cost; admission fees, boarding fees, bed-user fees, house dues, free text and exercise books….and perhaps even cover all other costs associated with development projects initiated by each school! Laughable! I haven’t as much as taken a single class in project management but fairly assess an impractical project when I see one. My verdict is that if this policy should form the basis of serious electoral competition, them anyone could up the stakes with a promise to build a Taj Mahal around each campus!

The thrust of my argument is that not everything free is prudent. The lures of a cost free life is most overpowering, but I’m most persuaded by the fact that providing quality education is a collective effort requiring shared responsibilities between state and guardians. Going by Nana’s free SHS, we risk spawning a culture of “hand-outs”, playing down on the values of responsible stewardship, and degenerating a serious parental obligation of planning and investing in their wards education into one hinged on the whims of state sponsorship.

A critical test of Nana’s policy should be its sustainability. Firstly on the quality of books to run this scheme. I recall how a good number of the books we thronged the school library to buy never made it to the classroom because our teachers couldn’t find use for them. Per the syllabi, they were ineffectual, to put it mildly. Instead, the teachers sold us copies of their own books, or made recommendations of others which we had to buy. I don’t readily recall how much I spent on those books but cumulatively we the students must have spent a fortune just to keep up with the instructional textbooks demanded by our teachers. Nana needs an urgent sitting with teachers associations and heads of public schools to fully appreciate what quality of study materials his program will require, and its associated cost.

To my mind, the haste to push for a free SHS education wouldn’t quite pay off as well as investing such scarce resources into providing quality study materials for vocational schools in particular, to better prepare them on a practical level for the real requirements of the job market. At least, they hold better promise of putting their knowledge directly to work instead of skylarking about on lofty expectations of white-collar jobs.

I can safely presume that most parents would appreciate the prospects of their wards enjoying good quality education over the promise of free SHS with highly under-motivated and under-equipped teachers. These should be commensurate with an expansion in the basic infrastructure to increase access and equalize opportunities in a practical, sustainable sense. I tend to agree with Nana on the need for providing SHS’s with modern laboratories. That was straight on point! But are we talking free SHS under trees?

I do not intend by this article to sweepingly disagree with all aspects of Nana’s educational programs, as you may have observed in my assessments. Or to ridicule what essentially is an initiative to relieve parents and guardians of the burden of school fees. Such a stance wouldn’t be worth the time. In fact I genuinely believe that the program is well intended. My objective is to expose the inherent weaknesses within this program, based on my personal experience with SHS education in a public school, so that hopefully, Nana and his cohorts would revisit the drawing board.

The education of Ghana’s future leaders should be safeguarded against undue political exploitation and uncritically examined experimentations. Nana, please come again!

BY: MISS MERCY AMA ADJABENG

FORMER STUDENT OF GHANA NATIONAL COLLEGE (2011/2012 GROUP) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

No comments

Akufo-Addo proposes alternative source of funding for his "Free SHS" policy

Details

Category: The WorkShop

Created on Sunday, 23 September 2012 00:00

Hits: 5947

24 September 2012

Akufo-Addo proposes alternative source of funding for his "Free SHS" policy

Flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given alternative sources of funding for his free Senior High School Education policy apart from using revenue from the oil exploration in the country.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}Nana Addo was wondering why many are still skeptical about Ghana having a free SHS education when the nation is considered as the beacon of hope and a getaway to Africa and has all the rich natural resources at its disposal.

He said apart from mobilizing funds from the oil exploration in the country, his administration will cut down the profligate spending and the high level of corruption that has engulfed the country in the National Democratic Congress administration.

The NPP flag-bearer said these while addressing students of the All Nations University College in Koforidua over the weekend, as part of his restoration of hope tour in the eastern region.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}He said, Ghana was currently losing a lot of money as a result of the high corruption in the NDC administration in diverse ways.

Nana Addo Dankwa alleged that, the NDC government was spending the tax payers money recklessly and its appointees living extravagant life style .

He said, today the NDC government is inflating all contracts and works awarded by government, depriving the tax payer a lot of resources.

The NPP presidential candidate noted that a six unit class room block that was costing GHC 85,000 three years back was now costing over GHC 240,000 under the NDC administration. He believes the NDC is deliberately duping Ghanaians in the name of awarding contracts.

“Now, if you inflate contracts sum and live flamboyant lifestyle then you will find it difficult to get money to finance any social intervention program,” he maintained.

He added that, board members and government officials were taking home 'fat' monies in the name of allowance and other incentives among many activities of this administration which he termed unnecessary.

Nana Addo Dankwa hinted that, he will reduce the corruption and profligate expenditure and seal all the leakages to save money and invest in the children’s education if he gets the mandate from Ghanaians in the December elections.

According to him, majority of Ghanaians cannot read and write and have no skills to make them earn a living because they did not have opportunity to go to school. He said a high number of JHS children dropped out of school because they could either not pass their examination or their parents had no money to continue.

He suggested the need for an educational system that will impart skills and knowledge in the children after school and prepare them for the job market if one cannot continue from where he stopped.

He described those with the conviction that the free SHS can only be possible after 20 years as jokers and told them Ghana has no time to waste.

Nana Addo added that, the free SHS policy will include expansion of educational infrastructure and placing the teacher first on the ladder.

From: Maxwell Kudekor/Adomonline.com

No comments

12,000 Children In Ghana Die Annually

Details

Category: Youth News

Created on Friday, 21 September 2012 10:03

Hits: 4152

12,000 Children In Ghana Die Annually

Available statistics by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) indicate that 12,000 children in Ghana die every year of under- weight related ailments due to malnutrition.

The statistics also indicate that under nutrition contributes to about half of all child deaths beyond early infancy whilst one out of every thirteen children in Ghana die before their fifth birthday mostly as a result of under-nutrition.

Mrs. Esi Amoaful, Deputy Chief Nutrition Officer at the GHS made this known at a day’s sensitization workshop on Nutrition Advocacy Communication under the theme “Build the Future, Invest in Nutrition Now”, in Accra.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}It was organized by the GHS for about 30 journalists from the Greater Accra, Eastern, Central and Western Regions, with the aim of soliciting the needed support to reverse the current trends in malnutrition and improve child survival.

Mrs. Amoaful said the Central, Eastern, Northern, Upper East and Western Regions were the most affected regions and that malnourished children were more likely to die of illnesses such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and complications from HIV.

Under nutrition could also impact negatively on education as well as the nation’s economic productivity and development, she noted, adding that it was preventable.

All stakeholders should therefore invest in nutrition to save the lives of 30,000 children from becoming underweight.

She said observing proven effective nutrition interventions during the next ten years would boost economic productivity, save lives and improve the wellbeing of Ghanaians, particularly women and children.

Mrs. Amoaful called for strong political commitment at the highest level to promote health, nutrition and agriculture-related programs, which will be incorporated in the plans of the appropriate ministries to help correct the anomaly.

She outlined examples of proven and effective nutrition solutions such as promotion of best breastfeeding practices, improved hygienic and sanitation practices, de-worming as well as regular exercising.

Mrs. Rebecca Ackwonu, Public Relations Officer of the GHS urged the media, as a stakeholder, to play a pivotal role in creating the necessary awareness about nutrition and mobilize the multi-sectorial support to bring about the needed education.

Source: GNA/Ghana

No comments