Education Minister’s cheeky and abrasive response to remarks by pro-Vice Chancellor of University of Cape Coast, Prof George Kwaku Toku Oduro on government’s proposed “Free SHS” policy has ‘turned’ sour for Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh.

The Minister, who launched scathing attacks on Prof Oduro for counseling government to think through its plans to implement the much vaunted policy, ended up being “educated” by the UCC pro-Vice Chancellor on the free SHS program scheduled to start in September this year.

In a lengthy and widely circulated response to the Manhyia South lawmaker, the well-mannered Professor explained that the Minister’s reference to Goal 4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals as basis for government’s decision to ‘rush’ the implementation of the policy is untenable.

“I am not sure the Minister understands the pivot around which SDG 4 evolves. Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals focuses on Quality Education. It does not just mandate governments to provide Free Education but more importantly, it lays emphasis on ‘Quality Education’… For purposes of clarity, Target 1 of SDG 4 reads: ‘By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free equitable and quality primary and secondary education’. My call for balancing access and quality in the implementation of the Free SHS policy, therefore, fits well into the SDG 4 which the Minister of Education refers to,” Prof Oduro stated.

He advised Dr Prempeh “to move beyond politics and instead adopt an open mind to divergent ideas made by Ghanaians. He should develop a listening ear and engage stakeholders to dispassionately plan strategies for implementing the Free SHS agenda. He should also avoid making pronouncements for the sake of pronouncements. He should understand issues well before coming public.”

Prof Oduro last week predicted doom for the implementation of President Akufo-Addo’s flagship policy if government does not take steps to ensure quality.

He said the current situation at the Senior High Schools is nothing to write home about and that that is likely to be compounded with a free SHS policy. “You get to so many schools, particularly those in disadvantaged context their labs are empty, they don’t have libraries. So if access is given through free SHS and these schools remain with empty labs and empty libraries then it compromises quality,” he argued.

But in his response to the University Professor’s admonition which left many dumfounded, the Education Minister threw all courtesies to the wind and used abusive words at the Professor, denouncing his caution as baseless.

“Where was the Pro-Vost when free SHS started some 50 years ago in this country? Has he ever advised that those parts of the country enjoying free SHS should be stopped? I find it hypocritical that some people are enjoying free SHS even though it is with constraints and when a government is taking a bold step to remove that financial barrier a provost will say some people should wallow in ignorance,” Dr Prempeh stated.

But, in a sharp rejoinder to the Minister’s diatribe, Prof Oduro advised him to be more receptive to suggestions and criticisms as government prepares to implement the policy.

According to him early warning signs and suggestions from stakeholders of education should not be taken as a vote against the policy or a political opposition to the policy but rather suggestions that will make the implementation of the policy smoother and better.

Read the full response below

PRESS RELEASE

THE FREE SHS POLICY IMPLEMENTATION DEBATE: A REACTION TO THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION’S UNPROVOKED OPEN PERSONAL VERBAL ATTACK ON ME

Introduction

The government, in demonstrating its value for secondary education, has declared a policy of FREE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL (SHS) education in the country come September 2017. Ever since His Excellency Nana Akuffo-Addo, the President of our country made this declaration, divergent opinions have been expressed by some Ghanaians, including me. Common to all the reactions to the announcement is the acknowledgement that the Free SHS policy is a laudable initiative and a constitutional mandate that the government has to fulfill.

In this light, the bold step taken by His Excellency to scale up implementation of the Free SHS policy is highly commended. Indeed, no one can deny the access expansion advantages associated with the removal of all fees and other related costs in the provision of senior high school education in Ghana.

Parents would be saved the burden of paying school fees and no child would be sacked from school for non-payment of fees. But the questions that remain unanswered and which have been my focus of contribution to the debate are: ‘how do we ensure that quality is not compromised in the wholesale implementation of the Free SHS policy? ‘How do we balance access and quality to make the Free SHS policy more meaningful to the Ghanaian child? How do we sensitize stakeholders, particularly parents against reneging on their fundamental shared responsibilities? These questions have been the parameters within which my contributions to the debate have so far been made.

My contribution to the Debate

In an interview granted me by Joy News, I drew attention to some quality challenges facing senior high schools, particularly those operating in disadvantaged contexts and urged the Ministry of Education to prioritize strategies for mitigating these challenges in the Free SHS implementation process. Specifically, I suggested that the Ministry of Education should use not rush in implementing the policy without:

Sensitizing parents and other stakeholders to enable them to understand the implications of the Free SHS policy for their shared responsibilities to schools initiating a process of revamping and equipping the science laboratories of less endowed senior high schools and stocking their libraries with books recruiting teachers with requisite expertise to handle subjects to avoid the situation where for example, in some less endowed schools, a biology teacher is made to teach mathematics, a vernacular teacher made to teach English etc, and putting in place strategies to ensure that remittances to schools are not unnecessarily delayed. I concluded by cautioning that the implementation of the policy should not be rushed through. If the implementation of the Free SHS is not indexed to QUALITY then it will be Free SHS for the sake of Free SHS which could only satisfy a political agenda.

I did not in any way attack the Minister of Education. My comments were geared towards helping the Ministry of Education to strengthen the implementation of the Free SHS policy to ensure that quality is not compromised. It was also to ensure that stakeholders, particularly parents, do not renege on their shared commitment to supporting teaching and learning in secondary schools.

These are comments that any Minister of Education who understands quality issues in education would find very helpful in terms of strategizing for an access-quality-balanced implementation of a Free SHS policy.

It is within this context that I wish to express surprise at the Minister of Education’s unjustifiable anger and personal verbal attack on me while reacting to my comments on JoyNews. I am particularly concerned about the diction used in describing me as a hypocrite and a privileged person.

My Reaction

In the interest of our dear nation and the fact that quality education cannot and should not be compromised in any way if we desire the best from the Free SHS policy, I react to the Minister of Education’s image damaging remarks as follows:

The ‘Hypocritical’ Description

The Minister of Education described my comments as hypocritical and queried ‘Where was the Provost when free SHS started some 50 years ago in this country? Has he ever advised that those parts of the country enjoying free SHS should be stopped?’

My Response

My understanding of the word ‘hypocrite’is one who pretends to be what one is not really is. If this is the context within which the Minister of Education describes my comments as ‘hypocritical’ then I say categorically that he is not being fair to me. I find his use of the word on me as a personal attack which is very unfortunate, unfair, impulsive and an attempt to suppress critical analysis of the Free SHS policy implementation processes.

Fifty years ago, I was a child so it was just not possible for me to have advocated stoppage of the Free SHS in some parts of the country as the Minister queried. I must also draw the Minister’s attention to the fact that I have never advocated that the Free SHS policy should be stopped. What I have consistently said is that the Ministry of Education should plan the implementation of the policy very well by prioritising quality issues to make the good intentions behind His Excellency President Nana Akuffo-Addo’s declaration of the Free SHS policy more meaningful to Ghanaians.

I also wish to inform the Minister of Education that ever since I grew up as an adult, experienced the value of quality education and the need to strike a balance between access expansion and quality, I have never relented my efforts in cautioning governments on issues of quality. It is therefore not true that this is the first time I am taking a position on the need to index FREE Education to Quality. In 2012, I developed a paper which was published in the Commonwealth Education Partnerships – a Commonwealth Secretariat Referenced working document for theCommonwealth Education Ministers’ Conference titled: Reflections on the Bright and Dark sides of free Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. I think it will be very helpful for the Hon. Minister to take pains to read that paper to get him informed about the critical quality issues at stake in the implementation of Free SHS. I am particular about the need for the Minister of Education to appreciate the quality issues involved in Free Education because that is the only way his Ministry will succeed in translating the meritorious Free SHS initiative of His Excellency Nana Akuffo-Addo into meaningful practice.

The ‘Privileged Person’ Description

The Minister described me as a privileged person who, by implication, does not appreciate the woes of the poor and ‘want the poor to wallow in ignorance’. He emphasized‘I find it a bit hypocritical that some people are enjoying free SHS… and when the Government is taking a bold step that everybody should have that financial barrier removed, a Provost of the Cape Coast University, a very privileged man says that some people should wallow in ignorance. …. Sometimes when people who are privileged are giving advice they should watch what they say’

My Response

I am very happy and thank the Hon. Minister for placing me within the bracket of ‘a privileged person’. I am sure many people who know my background and listened to the Minister’s pronouncement would wonder if he really knows the person he describes as ‘a very privileged person’.

Within the context of our debate, a privileged person may refer to a person who enjoyed a very easy pre-tertiary education life. A person who might have enjoyed the best secondary education in the country or outside the country. These are some of the features of a privileged person. Contrary to the perspective of the Hon. Minister, I have never had the privilege of attending a secondary school education because my parents were poor. In other words, I do not have a secondary school mate.

I had to study privately on my own to write both the GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examinations which later opened avenues for me to pursue my further studies by installments. From my background, it can never be the case that I am a privileged person. I think as a Minister of Education, his public pronouncements must be based on facts because he represents the decorum of knowledge in the country.

One of the reasons I am very passionate about quality in the implementation of the Free SHS policy is the fact that one can easily build on quality foundations laid for him. I had to build on my Middle school education through self-tuition because I had quality teachers and had access to learning materials.

Without these inputs, I am not sure I could have made it to the professorial level to warrant the Minister describing me as a privileged person. Based on my experience I wish to reiterate my caution that unless the Ministry of Education prioritizes quality issues in the implementation of the Free SHS programme, the end result will only satisfy a political agenda.

The Issue about SDG Goal 4

The Minister justified the rushed approach to implementing the Free SHS policy by referring to Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals: He directed, ‘Go and read the Sustainable Development Goal 4 and what it talks about secondary rights to education for all children’.

My Response

I am not sure the Minister understands the pivot around which SDG 4 evolves. Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals focuses on Quality Education. It does not just mandate governments to provide Free Education but more importantly, it lays emphasis on ‘Quality Education’. For purposes of clarity, Target 1 of SDG 4 reads: ‘By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free equitable and quality primary and secondary education.

My call for balancing access and quality in the implementation of the Free SHS policy, therefore, fits well into the SDG 4 which the Minister of Education refers to.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I wish to appeal to the Minister of Education to move beyond politics and instead adopt an open mind to divergent ideas made by Ghanaians. He should develop a listening ear and engage stakeholders to dispassionately plan strategies for implementing the Free SHS agenda. He should also avoid making pronouncements for the sake of pronouncements. He should understand issues well before coming public.

Thank You

Sgd: Prof. George K.T. Oduro

(Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Coast)