Ghana’s free education and contributory factor to a sinking economy

As a traditional Ghanaian chief, I must not mingle with the operations of the political divide; however, as a concerned citizen of the nation, I am rightfully obligated to share my views on certain political decisions that affect the entire citizenry.

I invite readers of this article to note that this piece does not reflect any political affiliation but comes from a neutral political background. Ghana's free education scheme purports potential benefits for overcoming the illiteracy syndrome among the populace.

Learning how to read and write must be a fundamental right of the citizens and not a privilege. Sara Goldrick-Rab of the United States once highlighted that making high school free nationwide promotes a fundamental connection between education and democracy, building national prosperity in the twenty-first century.

American policymakers realized that neither family wealth nor the resources of our community should determine access to secondary schooling. Not long ago, secondary school was even viewed as an elitist institution. Gone are the days when it was the children of the well-off who attended high school. Yet when high school became free, families from all walks of life came to get educated.

Helping people get educated would, in turn, help the nation. Providing access to higher education was transparent and seemingly fairway. It is highly beneficial for any nation to boost education to bring the country to the midst of economic growth and security, declining poverty, and significant social change.

Education is the answer to people's desire, all clamoring for a shot at middle-class jobs and the dream lifestyle. Therefore, any patriotic person will wholeheartedly be supportive of that political move. However, the proponents of Ghana's free education scheme might have lost the panorama without initially considering the blind spot that the move comes with a hefty price tag that someone (the government) must foot.

The principal missed target was how "Free Education in Ghana" was defined—defining the precise boundaries and limits to what must be freely accessible in secondary education. The question asked, would have been: Does it encompass free tuition, free boarding, and free lodging at school campuses?

Obviously, in Ghanaian terms, free education includes all the above: tuition, boarding, lodging, including even school uniforms. Based on this fact, Ghana's free education engenders a severe and heavily burdened consequence on the already treading economy. I remember discussing this political move with the member of parliament in our constituency, hoping that my viewpoint would be carried up to the overall boss of the nation.

The fact of the matter is there is no "Free Education" perse, anywhere on this globe. All education is paid for by someone else, organizations, governmental institutions thru indirect or direct taxation, or individuals. Even in an advanced country like the United States, there is no Free Education. Here the bills for the tuition of all elementary and secondary institutions are footed by school taxpayers of those localities.

Everyone living in any shelter, whether an apartment or a house, pays school taxes to fund first and second-cycle education. Students are made to pay for the two meals (breakfast and lunch) served if their parents' household income exceeds a certain threshold. In addition, all public-school children are mostly day students, and no boarding and lodging is offered.

I am bringing down the above concept to the existing Ghanaian overhauling economic burden where there is practically non-existence of a school tax scheme, coupled with the severity of financial demise, funding for a Free Education is bound to create an unbearable burden to the economy, even though it's proven to have excellent benefits to the people. The Ghanaian economy is among those nations at the bottom of the global financial spectrum.

It will carry enormous risk by immersing in over-ambitiously engagement in exorbitant free education ventures with expenditures exceeding that the advanced countries offer. At least Ghana would be better off if it would emulate the developed countries' educational concepts where parents are responsible for providing accommodation and meals to their kids.

Although the current free education scheme is tantamount to an excellent idea given the poverty level of the citizens, we are not yet there to implement the full regalia of free education as defined in Ghanaian terms. I fear the system will soon let the students down due to a lack of funding.

I pray the government revisits the free education scheme in adapting the degree of freedom based on the following guidance:

1. Only tuition must be freely accessible to students. The students' guardians must pay for boarding and lodging.

2. Except for those students holding scholarships, the burden of non-scholarship student accommodation must shift to their guardians.

3. Non-scholarship students must be admitted to academic institutions near their residential localities unless their guardians are prepared to pay for their wards' boarding and lodging fees in remote schools outside their dwelling areas.

4. The government must impose School taxes on all citizens based on the estimated value of their dwelling structures.

With the above, the government will not only defray some of the overarching cost sinking the economy but also generate some revenue to support free education.