Free SHS critics shamed with eggs on faces – Prez. Akufo-Addo

• Posted on December 13, 2021December 13, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the weekend stoked fresh Free SHS ‘fight’ with the opposition NDC after saying his opponents are pained that the social intervention policy which has put about 1.6 million teenagers in secondary schools for free, is working.

He debunked wild claims that the policy is not working by insisting that “surely there can no longer be any controversy about the validity of the Free SHS policy and its consequential measures. It is working.”

Nana Akufo-Addo since assuming office in 2017, has instituted measures to ensure that basic education terminates at the secondary school level and not at the primary level, which has been in existence until he became President.

He has said variously that he wants to ensure an educated and skilled young population that will bring an improvement of the human resource base of the country.

Eggs On Faces

President Akufo-Addo, who was the special guest of honour at the Tamale Senior High School (TAMASCO) 70th anniversary celebration in Tamale, in the Northern Region, on Saturday, said “there were some who described Free SHS as a waste; some said it destroy our Ivy League schools and some indicated that the policy was going to compromise the quality of senior high school education. None of these have happened and I am sure they have eggs on their faces now.”

He said, “I’m very proud of the policy and of its results thus far. There have been challenges associated with this policy which government has addressed substantially. A look at the results of the first batch of Free SHS graduates and that of those whose results have just been released gives further evidence of why the Free SHS policy has been a success so far.”

The President said, “Five (5) years on following the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme, which has guaranteed a minimum of Senior High School education for 1.6 million Ghanaian children, I want to state, without any equivocation, that I am very proud of the policy and of its results thus far.”

He stressed that the experiences of developed nations have shown that the most efficient way to create a society of opportunities, and, thereby, guarantee the future of a nation, is by investing in education and skills training of the youth.

Without an educated populace, he stated that, Ghana cannot transition from the status of a developing to a developed nation, adding that “it is the people of Ghana, Ghanaians like you and I, and especially the youth of today, who are going to build Ghana.”

WASSCE Performance

President Akufo-Addo said, “The 2021 WASSCE results of the second batch of the ‘Akufo-Addo graduates’ shows 54.08% of students recording A1-C6 in English, as opposed to 51.6% in 2016; 65.70% recording A1-C6 in Integrated Science in 2021, as opposed to 48.35% in 2016; 54.11% recording A1-C6 in Mathematics, as compared to 33.12% in 2016; and 66.03% recording A1-C6 in Social Studies, as compared to 54.55% in 2016. Lest we forget, the 2021 batch of students were the pioneers of the double track system, which elicited a lot of vilification and unfounded criticism on its introduction.”

Another indication of the value of the Free SHS policy, he stated, is the dramatic increase in the percentage of students from TAMASCO alone, who have qualified to access tertiary education.

TAMASCO is the senior high school Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and other dignitaries attended.

The President said, “TAMASCO got 29.2%; in 2016, it was 31.4%; in 2017, it was 34.7%; in 2018, it was 31.3%; in 2019, it was 46.3%; and in 2021, it was 45.8%,” saying “Surely, Chairperson, there can no longer be any controversy about the validity of the Free SHS policy and its consequential measures. It is working.”

The President, thus, appealed to all Ghanaians to “forgo partisan, parochial considerations, which confer little benefit, and all agree that Free SHS has to be a part of our national educational architecture, for, at least, a generation, if not forever. Our nation will clearly be empowered and enriched.”

Education Commitment

Reinforcing government’s commitment to ensuring the provision of quality, relevant education, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that they have introduced the teacher licensure regime aimed at professionalising teaching, and bringing it in line with international best practices. Thus far, the National Teaching Council has issued some one hundred and twenty-nine thousand (129,000) licences to teachers.

Government, he added, has commenced the construction of twenty (20) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) centres across the country, with all twenty (20) at various stages of completion.

Additionally, out of the one thousand, one hundred and nineteen (1,119) projects being constructed under the Free Senior High School Infrastructure Intervention, six hundred and fifty-seven (657) have been completed, with some two thousand, seven hundred and eighteen (2,718) vehicles procured and distributed by the Ghana Education Service to various institutions across the country.

With the completion of nine (9) Model Senior High Schools across the country being imminent, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that “in 2022, Government will expand the Free SHS Programme to cover all first-year students in public TVET Institutes.”

He assured further that Government will continue with the programme of implementing the various reforms and projects in the TVET sector, including the rehabilitation and upgrading of technical universities, upgrading and modernisation of the thirty-four (34) NVTI centres, retooling of TVET institutes, and the establishment of ten (10) state-of-the-art TVET institutes.

FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale