The Journey Of Free Senior High Education In Ghana And The Conflicting Position Of The NDC

Growing up as a child, the common slogan I came face to face with was " education is the key to development". This implies that no society, community and nation can attain any meaningful development without rigorously pursuing and focusing on the education of her citizens. It was for this reason that the framers of the 1992 constitution, the supreme law of Ghana provided in it the provision of equal educational opportunities and facilities to all persons. Article 25 of the 1992 constitution states inter alia:

1) All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities and with a view to achieving the full realisation of that right:

a) basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all

b) secondary education in its different including technical and vocational education shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education

It is worthy to note that three years after the coming into force of the constitution,in 1995 to be specific, the parliament of Ghana placed a 10year deadline for the implementation of that provisions of the constitution regarding education. By implication, the take off date for the implementation of the free senior high school policy should not go beyond 2005. To our utter dismay, successive governments defied these constitutional duty.

Though, the provision of a free senior high school school education is a constitutional mandate on government, it was brought to the limelight by the NPP and its 2012 presidential candidate and now the president of Ghana, Nana Akuffo Addo. That is, before the NPP made it its main campaign message, it was known to only a few Ghanaians especially renowned educationists.

To state it in better terms, it was after the free SHS policy was aggressively and relentlessly espoused by the NPP's flagbearer in the 2012 elections that it became the talk of the country. In fact, after his pronouncement on free SHS education, almost 70% of all political discussions, arguments and debates were centred on free education. At this point in time, the NDC's position on free SHS education was explicit : it was whimsical, populist,fraud, impossible, and a vote catching strategy which will do more harm than good to secondary education. Within this period, every supporter of the NDC was totally against the implementation of free SHS in whatever form: be it wholesale or progressive. In frank and blunt terms, the NDC through television and radio adverts stated that free SHS policy was impossible and that all free things are not good and of no quality.

To rationalise their point, they collected, edited and pieced together thoughts of messages Pastor Mensah Otabil shared on separate occasions more than a decade ago to make it seems as though, he was totally against the Free SHS promise made by the NPP. This tape recording attracted public debate and Pastor Otabil had to clear the air. He stated emphatically that it was machiavellian, evil and mischievous on the part of those people to pieced his messages on different instances to together to score political points. As usual of the NDC, they charged their babies with sharp teeth to send him to the cleaners. The following were the statements of some key NDC bigwigs in 2012 regarding free SHS

1) Free education is whimsical.- President Mahama, October 30, 2012, IEA presidential debate, Tamale

2) Free SHS policy is a misplaced priority if primary school pupils still paid fees and there is the need to increase access and quality at the primary school level first( October 30, 2012, IEA presidential debate, Tamale)

3) President Kwame Nkrumah himself was unable to implement the policy and that it was going to take the NPP about 20years to implement it, Lee Ocran

4) Free SHS policy is a risky one which will not win the party(NPP) the elections, Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa

5) Free SHS concept not possible, President Mahama(UCC campus, 2012)

6) Akuffo Addo's free SHS policy ia cheap talk- Lee Ocran( News Conference, Monday, 10 September, 2012)

6) If 1.80 is too small, try free education..... It is time headteachers speak against free education- Lee Ocran(November 21, 2012,CHASS meeting?

It is interesting to note that after the vehement opposition of the NDC and it apparatchicks regarding free SHS in 2012, former president Mahama in the state of nation's address in parliament on Teusday, 25 February, 2014, announced that his government was putting up a road map in place for a progressive implementation of the free SHS policy.

The question many Ghanaians asked after his announcement was that what has changed the stance of the the president on free SHS after he unreservedly comdemned it in 2012? Was it now possible? Is it no longer a populist and vote catching strategy by the NPP? Was education at the basic level fully free ? The announcement made by former president Mahama on free education in 2014 finally changed the discouse of the debate on the feasibility of the policy versus unfeasibility to progressive versus wholesale implementation. Whereas the NDC's progressive means beginning with only day students, Npp's whole means giving every child who is admitted to a public senior high school a fee free education. Former president Mahama's announcement and the change in the topic could not increase the political fortunes of the NDC in the 2016 elections because Ghanaians casted doubts on it and saw it as a deliberate attempt to derail the well calculated campaign message of the NPP.

Realising that the free SHS policy was one of the major touted political promise of the NPP and the possibility of its implementation by president Akuffo Addo, the NDC attempted to incite Ghanaians against the 3 months old government of Nana Akuffo Addo by fabricating a story that aggregate 24 was the cut off point for beneficiaries of the Free SHS policy.

They argued on it that it was meant to favour children of the rich and urban areas as facts and figures available shows that pupils from urban areas or leavers of private JHS where huge fees are paid do better in the BECE than those in rural areas or leavers of public JHS where less or no fees is paid. Before president Akuffo Addo could settle with his appointments, the NDC never minced a single opportunity they got on any medium in calling him to implement his promises especially the free SHS. Not even the announcement made by the president in a speech he delivered in the 60th anniversary celebration of the Okuapeman senior high school on Saturday, February 11, 2017 showing his commitment without any equivocation, reservation and doubt and the modalities to implement the policy in September deterred the Ndc in asking the president to implement his free SHS promise now. Barely 8 months into office when the president started the implementation of the free SHS policy, the position of the NDC was mixed. In one breadth, they are heard claiming part of the glory for its implementation and in another, they resume their attacks on it.

Surprisingly, the very people who attacked the policy saying pegging the cut off point at aggregate 24 will be a disadvantage and denial of many children this constitutional right were on the neck of the president that the policy was implemented indiscriminately. In fact , Samuel Ablakwa who was an ardent enemy of this policy in 2012 is reported to have said on September 6, 2017 that the NDC started the Free SHS policy in 2014 with 10,400 students on a world bank loan.

Quite strangely, in few days time, he was reported to be casting doubts on the sustainabilty of the policy claiming that government was going to struggle to find money to finance it. In a news report on Ghanaweb, Teusday, 5 December, 2017, Mr Ablakwa was reported to have blamed the Free SHS for four students in Cape Coast getting pregnant. The member of parliament for Damongo, Mr. Adam Mutawakilu did not spare the free SHS policy his usual spree of uncontrolled attacks. He was reported on Ghanaweb on Wednesday, 6th December as having said that the free SHS was the cause of the deaths of students in Kumasi academy(Kumaca). The whole minority in a press conference led by Mr. Ablakwa among other things predicted the collapse of SHS in 5 years. The minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu addressing a mammoth crowd at Kulikuli school park on behalf of his colleagues MPs to climax the NDC maiden unity/ health walk stated that the implementation of the free SHS was adhoc and they will fiercely resist it. Interestingly, the NDC that demanded and pushed that the president implemented the policy and other of his campaign promises immediately he assumed the highest position of this land are now saying he rushed to implement it without consultation and that he should have been done with the provision of infrastracture before rolling it out.

Despite the destructive criticisms and the continuous change of position on the well calculated, intended and pro poor plan to develop the human resource of Ghana, Nana Akuffo Addo stood his grounds. He insisted that Ghana can never wait to implement this all important constitutional requirement. He admitted the challenges associated with the implementation of the free SHS policy and stated that they were surmountable. To temporarily solve the increase of admissions, the president has introduced the double track system whiles he finds a lasting solution to it. His government has secured a loan of $40m to upgrade 75 selected senior high schools into model schools and to complete the E- blocks started by former president John Mahama. As usual of them, the NDC have directed their gun of attacks and condemnation to the double track system asking the president to cancel it. The question that remain unanswered is what is the actual position of the NDC regarding the free SHS policy? Do they actually wish well for the Ghanaiam child or are they only interested in deceiving Ghanaians to capture power ?

Iddi Adam Osman
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