The Centre for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA) has taken aim at some of government’s flagship education policies, arguing they were poorly timed and rushed through without proper planning.
Executive Director Michael Donyina Mensah, speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, described both the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy and the newly introduced No Fees Stress programme as populist initiatives that fail to address the real priorities of Ghana’s education sector.
He argued that Free SHS, launched under the Akufo-Addo administration, overlooked the constitutional provision for a progressive rollout of free education, resulting in structural challenges such as the double-track system.
“But unfortunately it was rushed through and that’s the reason why we still didn’t have this double track system. Well, it was rushed through. We are still grappling with it and seeing how we can be able to make it work effectively,” he noted.
On the NDC’s No Fees Stress policy, which waives tuition for first-year tertiary students, Mr. Mensah questioned the data backing the initiative. He maintained that only a small number of students genuinely struggle to pay their fees and that a targeted intervention would have been a more efficient use of resources.
“Government could have actually rolled out a targeted intervention to address the needs of the very smaller number who are unable to pay their fees for one reason or the other.
But to roll out such a very general or like blanket policy, we feel that it is not really a best or delicious way of using our resources, especially when we know that there are scores of graduates who are unemployed and some get out of school five years, ten years and they are still looking for jobs,” he stressed.
His comments come on the back of Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu’s proposal that 2.5% of Ghana’s oil revenue be dedicated to scholarships and bursaries to sustain the No Fees Stress policy, warning that relying solely on GETFund would be inadequate.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
