MPs Rally Support For President Akufo-Addo's Vision On Education

Mr Kojo Asemanyi, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa East, has called on Parliament to support the President's vision on education, especially the Free Senior High School Policy, for the general good of the youth.

He said Parliament must strengthen its supervisory role as well as ensure that the vision was reflective in the policies and laws that the House legislates.

Mr Asemanyi made the call when he presented a statement on the floor of Parliament on recent remarks by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Global Partnership for Education Conference in Dakar, Senegal.

He said President Akufo-Addo, at the forum on Ghana's vision for education, noted that the major challenge facing the educational system in Ghana and Africa as a whole was financing.

'We cannot depend on other people to finance the education of our Continent,' he quoted the President as saying, adding that a change in policy direction of the financiers would ultimately affect the Continent.

He, therefore, stressed the need for Africa to tap from its resources, eliminate corruption and ensure good investment arrangement in order to make the Continent capable of fully financing her education.

Mr Asemanyi, reiterating the President's proposal, stressed the need to ameliorate poverty and remove illiteracy from the Continent so as to provide education for Africa's youthful population to tackle their poor living conditions.

He said access to education and quality education were the two prime objectives of the President's vision on education adding that the Free Senior High School Policy was a great example for the African Continent.

Mr Alex Afenyo-Markin, the Member of Parliament for Effutu, said the President's bold initiative of rolling out the Free SHS Programme must be embraced by all.

'We need to get some started, when Dr Kwame Nkrumah gave limited free education to our brothers and sisters in the northern part of the country, he did so on purpose... due to the level of illiteracy and poverty. He did not have all the facilities there before he boldly started the initiative,' he said.

Mr Afenyo-Markin said it was not enough for the Minority to criticise and say the time was not ripe for the implementation of the Free SHS but rather come out with better suggestions to improve the programme.

'Education is something we must not play politics with at all' he added.

Mr Inusah Fuseini, the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, called for the 'Ghana Beyond Aid' vision to be made a national one rather than that of the New Patriotic Party.

He said the vision could not be realised within the tenure of President Akufo-Addo and, thus, needed to be made a national one with a concrete policy guideline on how it would be achieved even after the current administration left power.

'Ghana Beyond Aid must aggregate, congregate, bring people, unite people behind it…the vision itself must be translated into substance. It must move beyond rhetoric into a collective vision of this country,' he said.