A Lecturer at the University of Ghana Dr. Samson Obed Appiah has been questioning the implication of a recent comment made by President Akufo-Addo on the Free Senior High School policy.
President Akufo-Addo during his tour of the country, pleaded with Senior High School students in their final year to excel in their exams to “shame” persons he says were “critics” of the Free SHS policy.
Speaking at a Public Policy Dialogue organize by a group calling itself Progressive Intellectuals at the university of Ghana, Dr. Samson Obed Appiah questioned the intentions of the President.
He questioned if President Akufo-Addo will pass the students if they fail just to “shame critics” of the free SHS policy.
The current final year SHS students are the first batch of students to benefit from the Free SHS policy and will be passing out in 2020.
Dr. Obed Appiah wondered if government was anticipating and had plans to deal with the rush on universities in 2020 by the first batch of free SHS graduates.
He bemoaned what he alleges is a refusal of the government to put in the appropriate measures to deal with the challenges that are impeding the smooth implementation of the policy and negatively impacting the progress of the education sector.
Another academic Professor T.K. Oduro who is a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) identified three key challenges he said are emerging from the implementation of the Free SHS.
He encapsulated the challenges in three questions about “the place of secondary education in national development, the challenges associated with the policy, how we cope with the FSHS related challenges.”
Prof. Oduro pointed to the fact that the Free SHS policy was being introduced progressively by the John Mahama government and wondered why the current administration was rushing it.
He backed the argument for the policy to be reviewed to make it targeted at vulnerable and indigent groups in society and kicked against the current wholesome approach rather than a focus on ensuring access for those who would have been ordinarily denied.
Story by: Bismark Oppong (Reporter)/Radiogoldlive.com
