Free SHS Is Real – NPP

Section of the people that attended the NPP Educational Forum in Kumasi

A LEADING MEMBER of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region, Prof. George Gyan Baffuor, has stated that Nana Akufo-Addo's free Senior High School (SHS) promise is not a political gimmick for the NPP to win votes in the December general elections.

Addressing a large gathering of Kumasi residents on Wednesday evening, he said the NPP had planned the free SHS to help the youth, who are the future leaders of the country, to be well educated and enlightened.

He said speculations from NPP opponents that the largest opposition political party was just using the free SHS as a tool to garner votes was untenable.

'The free SHS is not a political gimmick by the NPP to win votes, therefore don't believe those that are spreading that wild rumour,' Prof. Gyan Baffuor stated during a one-day educational forum organized by the NPP in Kumasi.

Themed, 'Free SHS is coming', the event held at the Georgia Hotel conference room in Kumasi was attended by all manner of people in the Garden City including students and NPP faithful.

Prof. Gyan Baffuor explained that the NPP had plans to transform Ghana's economy to make the country the best in the sub-region, stating that this ambitious drive could not be attained without properly educating the people.

In line with this great vision, the NPP, he said, believed that educating the citizenry would help Ghana to produce more knowledgeable people that could actively play vital roles to help push the country to the desired destination.

Prof. Bafffuor stated that the free SHS was attainable, stressing that the country had enough money to resource the project, therefore nobody should express doubts about the free SHS programme.

According to him, Ghana would not spend more than five percent of its budget for a year on financing the free SHS; therefore he was surprised the NDC was kicking against such a brilliant vision of the NPP which could benefit the entire populace.

Delving deep into how the project would be financed by the NPP government if it wins the polls, he said, the country would spend GHc754 million when the free SHS gets into motion in 2013.

According to him, the country would expend GHc965 million, GHc1.1 billion and GHC1.4billion respectively in 2014, 2015 and 2016, stressing that Ghana was in a position to foot the bill.

He explained that the figures for the financing of the project would rise marginally from its start to four years time before the figures for the financing of the laudable programme would begin to fall slightly.

Prof. Gyan Baffuor disclosed that about 350 cluster of schools would be constructed and existing Senior High Schools in the country would be expanded to meet the rise in admission, adding that all these had been captured in the budget for the programme.

He said also that technical schools in the country which seemed to have been neglected by government would be expanded and refurnished and the cost for such ambitious move had all been captured in the free SHS budget.

The Wenchi MP said government would purchase buses to ferry students to school on daily basis, adding that the day students would also be fed breakfast and lunch free of charge alongside free tuition.

Prof. Gyan Baffuor stated that the free SHS programme of the NPP was feasible, therefore those that had been objecting to the programme unjustifiably should bow their heads in shame.

Still on the positive sides of the free SHS, he said the programme would help create jobs for people in the construction department, as there would be more expansion works and building of cluster of schools across the country in the first four years of the programme.

Among NPP stalwarts that addressed the gathering were Gabby Otchere-Darko, Yaw Buaben Asamoah, Kwaku Balado Manu and Akosua Frema Osei Opare.