To be clear,\nin the first place, NDC is not against Free Education as a norm for all\nGhanaians as a post by P. K. Sarpong seems to imply. Secondly, NDC has free affordable education\nas part of its platform. And legislating\nFree Education has nothing to do with legislative maneuvers currently being\npursued to prevent the current government from ransacking the education trust\nfund – GETFund for an unsustainable legacy project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do it and do it Right<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally,\nI applaud anyone who can find the funds to ensure that current and future\ngenerations of Ghanaians can obtain their education for free. I even think it is a right in a young\ndemocracy such as ours. But we\ndefinitely have an alternative on how to approach such a proposition as\ncompared to Nana Akuffo-Addo and his posse. \nThe NDC has always maintained that free education should have certain\nprerequisites to ensure its success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Among them a\ndedicated funding source which cannot dry up overnight; the need for education\ninfrastructure to ensure that all our children can go to school in a safe environment;\navailable well qualified teachers to teach curricular at a very high level so\nthat the disparities in educational outcomes are minimized or are totally\neliminated as well as education which leads to employable work force and not an\nunemployable educated workforce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In short,\nwhat we are arguing is that “the cart should not be placed before the\nhorse” which is the case we are currently witnessing. The program being laudable, should also\nintegrate all aspects of education so that by the end of one\u2019s educational\nendeavors, there is a verifiable educational outcome where graduating cohorts\neither move on to further pursuits or are absorbed completely into the\nworkforce if the educational prerequisites I alluded to have been properly set\nin place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our argument\nis even not that all these cannot be attained under the \u201ccookie-cutter”\napproach of the current government; but that it is clear, from all indicators\nthat the emphasis is on “leaving a legacy” rather than ensuring a\npositive sustainable outcome. We\nchallenge the government to show us how they are going to maintain the\ntraditionally known high standard of education Ghana has been associated with\nwhen its planning and delivery are so haphazard that school kids benefitting\nfrom this system are forced to endure the most negative of learning\nenvironments. Let\u2019s think about the unqualified teachers teaching them; the\nunavailable teaching materials, the poor housing and etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n E-Block infrastructure <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The NPP\ninherited a series of deliverables which would have been excellent as\nprerequisites for the launch of a system such as they propose, but narrow\nparochial interest has led to their failure in realizing the usefulness of\nthose projects to what we all hope we can together, do for our children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They are on\nrecord for saying that President Mahama completed only 37 out of the 125 or so\nof the so-called E-Block school buildings. \nThese I believe have provided \nthe accommodation required to train some of these kids. Granting that their assertion is true, would\nthey have had those 37 school blocks to use today had they not been completed\nby the previous government? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly of\nthe deficit, a number of them were at advance stages of completion, had they\ninvested resources to complete those, would they not have added to the number\nof completed E-Block schools and substantially cut down on unavailable\ninfrastructure which today, has compelled them to introduce their highly\nsuspicious dual track educational system whose outcome to say the least seems\ndoubtful? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fellow\nGhanaians, we need to understand that “not all that glitters is\nGold”. That, the Akuffo-Addo\ngovernment has pursued this policy full- throttle without a cursory attention\nto detail, some of which I have pointed out above, should be indication enough\nthat they have something at stake. Now,\nI would like every Ghanaian to do a basic exercise, if you introduce as a\nmatter of necessity a three-fold increase in the number of your school eligible\nkids into an educational system which was designed to take fewer numbers, who\nsuffers? Or rather let me be positive, who really benefits? What I am saying here is that, with respect\nto the implementation of the policy, there are a lot of factors, which if laid bare,\nwill cause us as a people to question the expedience of such a rushed\nimplementation of the policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mind you I\nam not saying a well-planned policy couldn’t be rolled out presto!\nABACADABRA!! LET THERE BE FREE EDUCATION\nAND PUUMM! IT is done!! It is doable and assuming that is what NPP under\nAkuffo-Addo has done, then why do we have students taking courses under trees\nin some cases? Why do we have some\nschools without teachers? Why are our children having to endure unnecessary\nhardship just because someone decides to go on an ego trip? Leave a\nLegacy? I don’t begrudge you that. You have a right to have something to point\nto as an accomplishment after 2 years going into 3. But please…please let it not be on some \u2018cockled\u2019\nexperimentation involving my child or any Ghanaian child’s life. I question how\nwe are going to secure the right expected outcome for our children with such\nadhoc planning and so many unknowns? Are\nwe ready to tolerate an education system whose doubtful outcomes may include a\nfurther increase in the number of half- literates, half-baked scholars? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lack of Uniform Standard of Education<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A major part\nof the problems we are encountering as a nation is the lack of uniform\nstandards of education. Having worked at\nthe Ministries in the past, I think I am well placed to comment on that. I am a witness to how that has militated\nagainst work performance even at that level. \nAsk any HR person and they will tell you that the greatest challenge we\nhave in Ghana is the illiterate workforce and I do not say this to put anyone\ndown. It is simply the fact. That is why our workers do not understand\nthat work starts at 8am and they should be present by that time. That, is also why you have officials and clerks\nsending you running around in circles when you need them to fulfil their\nfunction for which they are paid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ghanaians\nhave to understand that education is not merely being able to read and write\nand being numerate. It also has to do\nwith comprehension and application of knowledge. No one in Ghana can claim that they haven’t\ncome upon these two crumblers of our educational system. That is why we have so many educated people\nwho still look up to government to provide their sustenance; that is why our professors\ncan write “long book-long papers” but cannot design a simple workable\nimplement for clearing farmland so that our indigenes do not have to break\ntheir backs in the sun just to provide us the little food their physical\nstrengths allow them to produce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ghana needs all-round Education; Our\neducation is a farce! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My question is,\n\u201care we prepared to make it even more so or do things to bring about the\nnecessary changes that would make it a world class education? If it is the latter, then the NDC’s approach\nto education is a superior model and if we succeed in doing all the\nprerequisite I have enumerated and more, we would have taken our first step\ninto the future we desire for our children and our country. I am stating again, that if we all agree that\nlaying a solid foundation is a necessity for free education, then all the\nspurious talk by this gentleman P.K. Sarpong purporting to show the deviousness\nof NDC on the issue of free education would be seen for the hollow exercise of\nintellect devoid of understanding and facts that it represents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ghana needs\nto develop an all-round education. Let no one suggest that my party NDC will\nplay games with the future of our children. \nIf for anything, it is those claiming to have the child’s interest at\nheart, who really must be examined on their understanding of the issues. In my write up, I have avoided the budgetary\nconundrum this policy represents for the nation and only addressed the\npolitical chicanery this Sarpong man tries to engage in. The real “can of worms” that this\nwhole thing represents is something I will leave for future commentary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Writer: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joojo Djamson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n NDC Professionals Forum\nInternational.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"