All Teachers Alliance Ghana, a teacher welfare association under the Ghana Education Service (GES), says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) ought to be commended for their respective roles towards the implementation of the free senior high school policy.
ATAG believes the two political parties have played significant roles in the implementation of the policy through the varied approaches they used.
General Secretary Albert Amoah however noted that former President John Dramani Mahama must be credited with starting the implementation.
According to him, it is a known fact that Mr. Mahama first rolled out the progressively free SHS policy, which paved the way and laid the foundation on which the current ruling NPP started its free- for-all approach.
Speaking in an interview with host Kwabena Agyapong on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, he stated that “on the issue of the free SHS policy, both the NDC and the NPP have played their respective roles. But we should credit Mahama with starting the programme through his progressively free SHS policy. Mr. Mahama evaluated our challenges, infrastructure in the sector, and resource constraints and found that if he had rolled out a wholesale approach, it would have negatively impacted our resources.
So he selected some schools and implemented the progressively free SHS. The idea behind this was to open up the masses. But we had a deficit in infrastructure, and so the former president started the construction of the community senior high schools. So in a way, we can all agree that he was the one who started the policy.”
He admitted that the policy direction or approach of the NPP was different from the NDC and has also created opportunities for several individuals; however, it has challenges confronting its implementation.
He highlighted the deficit in infrastructure, among other challenges that he noted are confronting policy implementation today.
He said that without the policy launched by Mr. Mahama, the NPP would have found it difficult to implement its policy of free SHS.
“The two policies are different from each other, but both parties have contributed immensely to our sector through their different strategies. The policies are different, but helpful. We should stop the partisan politics of our education sector.”
He called for a review of the policy, emphasising that several of the SHS graduates are having difficulty pursuing higher learning at the tertiary level.
Some of the SHS graduates he said are unable to pursue higher learning because they find it difficult.
He has therefore proposed a review of the policy, with a lot of focus on expanding technical and vocational education to absorb those who have an interest in learning a skill or trade after junior high school.
Source: rainbowradioonline.com
