Akufo-Addo’s vision on free SHS is broader than Mahama's - NPP Guru

It is now the conviction of many members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that President John Dramani Mahama has tapped into the educational policy of Nana Akufo-Addo by seeking to introduce free Senior High School (SHS) education. Some political pundits are of the view that implementation of the policy in the 2015/2016 academic year will not inure to the benefit of the opposition party in the next general elections.

But a member of the NPP's Communications Team, Asamoah Gyamfi, has hinted that the vision behind the free SHS policy Nana Akufo-Addo intends to operate in Ghana differs from what President Mahama has set to do next year.

According to the NPP communicator, Nana Addo’s vision considers Senior High Schools as the focal point for every child and not the basic level where the children cannot do anything for and by themselves at the tender age of completion.

Speaking on Ghana Decides program on Okay Fm, Asamoah Gyamfi highlighted that out of the over 350,000 children who sit for the basic exams, 160,000 progress to the secondary schools, leaving out 140,000 children stranded without any opportunity to better their education.

Stressing on the vision of Nana Addo to make SHS free in Ghana, Asamoah Gyamfi disclosed that the unavailability of remedial classes for JHS graduates makes Nana Addo’s policy the ideal one, as every child will have the chance to make it to the tertiary level to acquire knowledge.

To him, many countries without mineral resources have developed due to education and knowledge and so Nana Addo’s vision to make senior high school free from the proceeds from the oil exploration will help develop the country at a faster rate if the ruling NDC government will follow the ideology of Nana Akufo-Addo.

He, however, finds it strange that President Mahama has now seen reason with Nana Addo’s free SHS vision after he (Mahama) had earlier wrote on his Facebook wall that free SHS is not a priority.

“Now let’s ask, what quality have they brought to our educational system? Between 2013 and 2014, what quality has the President brought to the educational system? The truth of the matter is that, they have seen that Ghanaians are interested in the free SHS policy and they are doing this to prevent Nana Addo from using that as his campaign message in 2016 elections……but whether they like it or not, there is a vast difference between what Nana Addo wants to do and what the NDC is trying to do; this is copy-cut,” he asserted.