Which Reports Are The Political Parties Reading? And Who Is Reading Right?

Is free SHS possible? The debate has been going on since the NPP presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo and the NPP launched their manifesto and committed itself to stretch basic education through the JHS level to the SHS level and make the SHS free as well, as demanded by the constitution. A number of other parties particularly the CPP, PNC, PPP, GFP and NVP seem to agree with the NPP position.

As the proposition began making waves, the NDC and its communicators countered the debate saying that free SHS is not possible, if at all, not now. But of all the comments, the most striking one I found was that made by the President John Mahama in my constituency recently at Ve-Golokuati in the newly created Afadzato East District.

I felt scandalized about the sarcastic response of the President, and others, as if the issues around our education were a huge joke. I found it odd for the president to have spoken the way he did, because I found it populist which I least expected from him. For him to have said that soon his opponent would be promising free accommodation, free housing and free air, I found offensive because the president of my country thinks the education of our children is a huge joke.

Koku Anyidoho also came in to demean the debate further by talking about free pampers.

Ghana First, an academic think tank of some university lecturers, led by one Dr Ebenezer Kofi Hayford, lecturer, Department of Earth Science University of Ghana, also said infrastructure in the country's Junior High Schools (JHS) and Senior High Schools (SHS) is woefully inadequate to accommodate the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) free SHS policy. 

In order not to commit the same offence, I tried to find out what the critical position is on this sector of education. Whose proposition is credible and who is doing propaganda with the future of our children and for that matter the development of this nation.

I grabbed a copy of the Ghana Statistical Service's book, 'Ghana, Population Data Analysis Report' volume 2 - Policy Implications of Population Trends, August 2005'. A UNFPA funded Project (GHA/01/P07)

Please read main excerpts of the findings of the report, and join to enrich the debate.

i) Chapter 4, page 170 of the book is headed, 'EDUCATION AND LITERACY'.

The introduction states, 'A nation's most treasured and dynamic assets are its human resources. In order for a country to grow and sustain development, it ought to develop its human population through the provision of quality education. Countries that paid enough attention to providing quality education have made considerable strides in economic and social development and raised the quality of life of their people. This chapter assesses the education system of Ghana. It provides a historical overview of education in Ghana and a discussion of population trends and implications for education. This has involved enrollment trends from pre-school to the tertiary level, teacher education, technical/vocational education, and science/technology education and their role in economic development in relation to demographic data from several sources. Inequities inherent in the education system, including gender inequities, regional and district inequities and infra-structural deficiencies have also been discussed'.

ii) On page 173, under the sub-topic:
PRE-AND POST INDEPENDENCE EDUCATIONAL POLICIES – 1951 – 1980'.

It states in the opening paragraph that, 'Following the first democratic party-based elections of 1951, the Government introduced the Accelerated Development Plan for Education in August 1951 and started its implementation in January 1952. Among its provisions were free tuition at elementary education level for children between ages 6 and 12 years and continued subsidization of mission schools by Government, to ensure efficiency.

'The implementation of the plan saw primary and middle schools enrollment doubling from about 200,000 in 1950 to 483,425 in 1959. Similarly, enrollment at the middle school level rose by 133.2 per cent from 59,960 in 1950 to 139,801 in 1959. Between 1952 and 1957, more secondary schools and teacher training colleges were also established to absorb the increased number of elementary school leavers, and also to provide the required teachers to teach in the increased numbers of elementary schools.'

 
iii) On page 175, under sub-heading:
THE SCHOOL-GOING AND PRE-SCHOOL POPULATION (AGE 3 - 24)

The opening paragraph states, 'The 2000 Census shows that almost 60 per cent of Ghana's population is below 25 years. The age group 3 to 24 is the population that is either still in school, or has just completed, or is about to complete education at a particular exit level, including tertiary level. The age group 25 to 64 is the group that may be working to support children or wards in one form of educational institution or the other. Thus, in Ghana, just about 30 per cent of the population caters for the education of over 60 per cent of the population. This has major policy implications with regard to resource mobilization, financial outlay to support education, and human resource development for future economic development. If the country does not adopt sound long-term policies to educate this population and reduce the current unacceptably high illiteracy rate, the country's economic development 10-20 years hence will be seriously compromised'.

iv) LITERACY RATE
The report states that, 'The 2000 Census shows that 41.1 per cent of all Ghanaians aged 3 years and older have never been to school, while only 2.1 per cent have had some form of tertiary education. The cumulative percentage of those with education beyond the junior secondary level is only 12.8 per cent. Of the adult population of 15 years or more, 42.1 per cent are totally illiterate. Ghana's adult illiteracy rate is higher than the average for all developing countries, but lower than the average for sub-Saharan Africa. No matter how one looks at these figures, the illiteracy rate for the country is too high for a country that aspires to be a middle-income country within the next 20 years'.

v) On page 178 is the sub-title:
REASONS FOR NON-ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL.

In the first paragraph, it states, 'In addition to the high national illiteracy rate of 42 per cent, the country appears to suffer from high exit or dropout rates among even those who enroll in school. In the 2001 Ghana Child Labour Survey, in all the regions and for all age groups, the most frequent (44.2 per cent) reason cited for non-attendance at school was non-affordability by parents to cater for children. The next most frequently cited reasons were long distance of place of residence from school (18.4 per cent) and children not being interested in school (17.1 per cent)

It is worth noting that whereas non-affordability was a problem almost equally for both the urban (52.2 per cent) and rural (43.0 per cent) populations, long distance from school was a far more serious problem for the rural population (20.7 per cent) than the urban population (2.7 per cent)….'

vi) On page 179, is the sub-title:
 SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
Here the reports opens with the paragraph that, 'As at 2001/2002 the total was 504, with 474 public and 30 private. Between 1994 and 2002, the total number of senior secondary schools has remained static. Since the number of senior secondary schools increased from 250 to about 400 in 1990, following the introduction of the new education system, the total enrollment has hovered around 200,000. The number of senior secondary schools has remained 500 since 1993. Enrolment in the last 15 years has varied between 150,000 and 250,000. The figures show that the attendance rates in senior secondary schools are extremely low, with a national average of only 18 per cent of the eligible age group. Whereas at the JSS levels, about 50 per cent of eligible students are enrolled, this falls drastically to below 20 per cent from the JSS to the SSS….'

vii) On page 180 under the Sub-title:
TEACHERS, TEACHER EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING

The 4th line of the first paragraph of the GSS 2005 report states that, 'Teacher education however continues to be given due attention, and every year trained teachers are released into the system. In spite of sufficient access to training institutions, not enough school leavers are being attracted into the teaching profession, about 2,000 teachers leave the service annually, many of them through retirement. It is estimated that for the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy to succeed, an additional 33,000 trained teachers are required in the system.

'The total number of trained teachers required at the pre-tertiary level is 75,000. But at 2001/2002 academic year, only 19,686 were enrolled in the 42 training colleges, with an annual output of 6,600. With at least 33,000 more teachers required in the system, this is not the sort of enrollment levels the teacher training institutions should be recording.'

viii) On page 181 of the report is the sub-title:
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION AND MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT,

the first paragraph states that: 'the world economy has been shaped by scientific and technological advancement, resulting in the emergence of knowledge economy. Official government policy is for the nation to achieve a ratio of 60:40 sciences to humanities manpower base by the year 2020….'

ix) Page 185 has the sub-title:
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It is opened with the following statement, 'there are about five possible avenues by which education can be a vehicle of escape from rural deprivation and urban depression, provided there is a system in place that provides equal access to all sections of the population. The system currently operating in Ghana does not lead to poverty alleviation because the rural and urban poor are severely handicapped, since they cannot afford the financial investment required for the good basic and secondary education that are required to progress further in the educational system. The system therefore perpetuates poverty, and needs to be drastically overhauled, particularly at the basic level, to ensure equity.

'Vocational and technical education could be an avenue for skills development and self-employment and needs to be developed to do so. This will require immense political will, national consensus, and bold decisions.'

x) You have just read excerpts of the true state of Ghana's position on education trends – the most empirical evidence as contained in the Ghana Statistical Service's book, 'Ghana, Population Data Analysis Report' volume 2 - Policy Implications of Population Trends, August 2005'. A UNFPA funded Project (GHA/01/P07)

In addition to this, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) released its study report on seven critical issues of concern relating to education which politicians must address in order to attract their votes in Election 2012. This was released and published at Ghanaweb, courtesy Ghana News Agency on 10th October, 2012. The report revealed that '1,958 of a total respondent of 5,416 representing 36.1 per cent said school fees should be affordable noting that charges like sports fees, Parent Teacher Association dues and examination levy should be abolished'.

The political question is, which political party's manifesto or development programme comes closest to address the challenges to Ghana's education trends as enumerated in this study report?

Which one(s) show the boldness and fortitude to address the concern that, 'If the country does not adopt sound long-term policies to educate this population and reduce the current unacceptably high illiteracy rate, the country's economic development 10-20 years hence will be seriously compromised'?

This is because the educational support is breaking the back of the 30% of the population that is caring the load of 60%.

The proponents of free basic education up to SHS, the NPP, PPP, PNC, CPP, GFP and NVP, do you think they are responding to the report?

The NDC and others who say free basic education up to SHS is not possible now, but the focus must be on access through increased infrastructure, are they responding to the reality as contained in the report?

Upon what evidence was Kwesi Pratt condemning the Progress Party government for converting some training colleges to secondary schools? Do you find the report supporting his position?

Kwame Nkrumah launched the Accelerated Development Plan for Education in August 1951 and started its implementation in January 1952 with the same infrastructure before the plan started. No national programme/reform has ever resolved all its infrastructural requirements before a roll out.

My concern is that, we ought to take the debate on our education more serious than what we are doing and the comments by the President are one of the unfortunate comments that have unfortunately been thrown into the arena. I say so because we ought to give credibility to official statements of political parties to enable us pursue credible discourse.

The debate continues. Let me receive your responses at [email protected].

Delali Ndo, Ho.