Parents' Nightmare

Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, Minister of Education

If proponents of the free SHS are still seeking more premises to prop their fee-free agenda, the revised charges as released by the Ghana Education Service (GES) especially for new entrants, offers one.

The revision offers a wonderful opportunity for politically active Ghanaians to rethink the free SHS issue dispassionately for the good of the country.

We would not pretend to be unaware about the pains which went into the revision of the fees, but would equally not turn our attention from the fact that the announcement has triggered a nightmare of mammoth dimensions for many families.

Where to turn to, for helping hands under the circumstances, especially as their wards put pressure on them to pay up to meet the deadline so they can proceed to school when the time is due, can be an excruciating experience for responsible yet financially-challenged parents. That is the reality of most parents at this time. The opportunity cost so presented leaves such parents panting for financial breath.

In some instances they look on as the opportunity slips away in some instances never to return in a country where the expensive and obscene lifestyles of noveau riche politicians are subjects of national conversation.

Indeed, the days preceding the announcement of the revision saw hearts in the mouths of many parents whose kids had written the BECE exams. Now the moment of reckoning is nigh.

Free SHS remains as important as it was when it was first mooted and turned into the cornerstone of the NPP 2012 manifesto. It was rubbished and vilified as untenable by the NDC, apprehensive about the virility of the political mantra against the flimsiness of 'ide bee keke'.

Interestingly, and paradoxically, something which suffered so much at the hands of the opponents of the promise to Ghanaians turned round to be embraced by the president who mounted a spirited campaign to destroy it earlier.

He promised actualising a free SHS programme during the next academic year—which is now. Many thought it was part of his political rhetoric and should be digested with a pinch of salt. Those who thought so have won the day. Ever since the President promised to ensure a free SHS policy which the proponents said was refreshing, nothing has been heard about it again. It has gone the way of the superhighway to Kumasi from Accra.

With the revision, there is no disputing the fact that a free SHS under a Mahama administration is totally out of the equation.

As for parents, pay they must pay if their wards have to access SHS education; as for politicians, it is yet another opportunity to market the importance of a gratis education for Ghana's critical future human resource.