The HONESTY DEFICIT (thanks to Kweku Baako for this phrase) in the NDCs communication is so shameful and disgusting. Akufo-Addo has been consistent in his case for Free Quality Education in Ghana. In 2008, he delivered a speech at the IEAs Evening Encounter at Alisa Hotel and this is what he had to say about education: Quality Education is fundamental to a modern society and we shall implement the new educational policy introduced by the current government by focusing on quality and putting the teacher at the center of the whole process. The School Feeding Program that is being piloted in 2 schools per district will be extended to all schools in the next 2 years at a projected total cost of GH¢287,606,241 per year. Currently, the cost of Senior High School education is about GH¢92 million per year. Making this free and compulsory will cost an additional GH¢75 million per year initially with the cost expected to rise as enrolment increases. To improve Basic Education, the Teacher Training Colleges have been upgraded to tertiary level and we shall strengthen these Colleges of ducation to improve the quality of our teachers. - Extract from Akufo-Addos speech at Alisa Hotel on Wednesday 26 June 2008 at the IEA Evening Encounter. And then in 2012, at the IEAs Evening Encounter he reiterated his commitment to Free Quality Education and laid out a comprehensive programme as follows: Education is at the heart of the NPP programme. We cannot transform the economy and the country without transforming the knowledge and skills of our people. Every child, rich or poor, able-bodied or disabled, deserves a good education. Currently, at every stage of education, our children are falling out of the system. To our eternal shame, some children born in this country never even make it to a classroom. Then, of the numbers that do start school, over 60 per cent of them do not make it to secondary school. The situation has become significantly worse over the last three years, with even fewer children (47% as against 62% in 2008) passing the BECE. In some villages, not a single child passes the exam. Every year, more than 150,000 young Ghanaians leave school at JHS level without any opportunities for further education or training. This is dangerous! To change this situation, we will redefine basic education and make it compulsory from Kindergarten to Senior High School. To ensure that no child is denied access to secondary education, we will remove the biggest obstacles that currently stand in their way: cost and access. In addition to tuition and other costs already borne by government, admission, library, computer, science centre and examination fees will all be free. So will boarding, feeding and entertainment fees, along with textbooks and utilities. In order to ensure equity, day students will also be fed at school free of charge. Free secondary school education will cover Technical and Vocational institutions. I know this will be expensive. But, as the Ewe saying has it, “you cook important foods in important pots.” The cost of providing free secondary school education will be cheaper than the cost of the current alternative of a largely uneducated and unskilled workforce that retards our development. Leadership is about choices – I will choose to invest in the future of our youth and of our country. Fellow citizens, I know numbers can be boring, but these are important numbers. The additional cost of providing Free Senior High School will be around 1% of Ghana’s GDP. The cost of providing free secondary school education, which includes tuition, boarding, feeding and all the other charges for the 2013-2014 academic year, is estimated at 0.1% of our GDP. This translates into some GH¢78 million. We have made provision for a major increase in enrollment as a result of admitting all JHS students into SHS in 2014-2015. We expect the cost to rise to GH¢288 million (0.3% of GDP) in that academic year and increase to GH¢774 million in 2015-2016 (0.7% of GDP). Additional expenditure on more teachers, infrastructure for schools, including expanding and rehabilitating existing infrastructure, and establishing cluster schools in areas where there are no Senior High Schools, will bring the total cost to GH¢755 million (0.9% of GDP) in 2013 and rise to GH¢1.45 billion (1.3% of GDP) in 2016. Providing free secondary education will increase the total educational expenditure from the 4.1% of GDP in 2012 to 5.8% by 2016, a figure which is still below the UNESCO minimum of 6%. I am prepared to go beyond that in order to improve quality at all levels – Primary, JHS, SHS, and Tertiary. Countries that have taken deliberate, successful steps to improve their economies have spent substantial amounts of their national income on education. For example, in 1960, during its post-war transformation, Japan spent 21.4% of its GDP on education and Malaysia, at an equivalent period in 1990, spent 15.3% of its GDP. On our continent, a number of African countries are doing better than us. Kenya spends 6.7% of its GDP on education, South Africa 6% and even tiny Lesotho puts us to shame by spending 13% of its GDP on education. We may be able to beat them at football, but not in education. Let me put this into context; the NDC admits to paying out some GH¢640 million, equivalent to 1.4% of Ghanas 2010 GDP, as judgement debts. Are we telling parents and their children that a Ghana that can afford to spend 1.4% of its income on judgement debts cannot afford to spend an additional 1.3% of its income on giving its children free secondary education? We know how to fund it. A percentage of the oil revenues allocated to the Ghana National Petroleum Company, and for the funding of the budget, as well as a greater percentage from GETFund, will be used to finance the programme. These plans can only work with the enthusiastic support of a well-trained and motivated teaching workforce. We do not have enough teachers and many are not happy with their lot. Last year, the Minister for Education said there was a 60,000-teacher deficit in the country. The NPP will attract, train and retain young professionals into the teaching profession. We will make it easier for teachers to upgrade their skills, improve their status and provide them with incentives . For example, any teacher with 10 or more years of service will be eligible for a mortgage scheme, supported by government, for a home anywhere in the country. We shall endeavour to make teaching in the rural areas, in particular, less stressful by providing accommodation and transportation. It is obvious that the scope of our modern lives has placed extra responsibilities on our teachers. With most families now made up of both parents going out to work, children spend much longer periods at school and teachers have to see to their moral as well as academic upbringing. Society must recognise this and accord our teachers the necessary incentives. That is why an Akufo-Addo presidency, God-willing, will introduce a Teacher First policy to give teachers the recognition they deserve. Free education must be achieved, hand in hand, with quality education and we shall work with the religious bodies to ensure equal weight is attached to the moral upbringing of our children. We also acknowledge the important work the private schools are doing, and we will work with them to improve delivery. - Extract from speech delivered by Nana Akufo-Addo on 21 August 2012 at the IEA Encounter. Akufo-Addo is CONSISTENT; the NDC is NOT!!!
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 10:51:47 +0000
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