A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei, has advised the government to reconsider some of its flagship programmes.
According to him, the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy and the Agenda 111 projects should be revised because of the economic hardship facing the country and the government.
He said: “We have to review some of the flagship projects. For example, should we do all the Agenda 111 when you are under a serious crisis? I think that there must be a dispassionate review.
“Even calling on parents to say that, look, Free SHS, you have free books, free this, but people must pay for their children’s food at this moment. Why? Because only half of them benefit from the food. So why is this discriminatory,” he said in an interview on TV3 on Monday, October 31,
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently said that he would not reverse the Free SHS policy under any circumstances.
According to him, those advocating a review were those who initially opposed it.
The president was responding to questions on a local radio station in Nkawkaw as part of his recent tour of the Eastern Region.
“I have to confess my attitude because when I hear the word ‘review’, I hesitate. Because the first people who called for the policy review opposed the policy. If those who didn’t want it are now calling for a review, then my understanding is that they want to review to reverse the policy.
“I cannot accept the idea of reviewing the free SHS programmes since that will deny more Ghanaians from accessing the programme”, President Akufo-Addo stated.
However, the president asked that those calling for review come clear on areas needed for the review.
“But the two fundamental thrusts of the policy, one was expand access, that has been dramatically achieved. The other was to improve the quality outcomes of education. The outcomes of the Free SHS Policy are a major improvement of the Pre-SHS data that we have.
“The policy is not cast in stone; it can be looked at, yes, but what we cannot do is to tamper with these two fundamentals things; access. We have to make sure everybody, irrespective of their social origin, no matter their financial background, has access to good quality secondary education.
“Because everybody recognises that this is a very important step for progress of our country. I have to confess, I am somehow skeptical when I hear this discussion of let’s review.
“I am not saying that those elderly people or clergy criticising don’t have good will for the policy, no I don’t want to be misunderstood. But I want to understand the areas which they are looking for review.”