One of the key promises which have been made by the leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama is that when he comes back to power, he will augment the shambolic free Senior High School programme. He has said this on numerous platforms that the free Senior High School is a good policy but the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not managing it well at all.
However, the same John Dramani Mahama famously said in 2012 that the free SHS was bogus and needed no attention in our political discourse. The former president made this statement when the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) organized a Presidential Debate between Nana Akufo Addo who was then in opposition and John Dramani Mahama over the free Senior High School (SHS) education policy.
Mahama had noted at that time that the foundation of education was weak and therefore his party would rather concentrate and invest more at the basic level of the nation’s education; which is the foundation of our entire educational system. He further said it was impossible to carry out the policy when it was crystal clear that several parts of the country lacked the adequate infrastructure to support it.
To make his point more believable and solid, Mr. Mahama further pointed out that though the constitution enjoins all governments to make education progressively free, it does not lie in the whimsical promise of a party eager to win political power to make such pronouncements that cannot be achieved in the short term. To him, Nana Addo was mounting the policy (free SHS) ‘on its head’ and justified his comment with the following words.
‘I am for making secondary education free but as I said, where you haven’t carried out your obligation to the ordinary people of this country and to the constitution…to say that your priority is to spend that money to make senior high school free when you still haven’t eliminated cost at the basic level…children are not able to have access even at the secondary level, infrastructure is not available for all children who qualify to go to school…that is a misplaced point and you(Nana Addo) are standing the whole process on its head,’ Mahama had said defiantly.
Fast forward 2020 and John Dramani Mahama who is now in opposition is desperately clinging on to the free SHS policy religiously and revealing how he will make it better when he comes to power. During his unveiling of Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr. Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, in Accra, Mahama said emphatically that he will maintain and improve the scheme when elected.
Mr. Mahama said one of the things the next NDC administration would do when back in office was to complete the 200 community day schools that they began to abolish the double-track system. ‘We want our children to go to school at the same time and all vacate at the same time,’ he said, stressing he did not say he would abolish free SHS when elected back to power. ‘We are running for office so that we can restore our economy, prosperity, and jobs for our young people and that is why I’ve come out with two key promises’, Mr. Mahama said.
He said the $10 billion accelerated infrastructural plan, dubbed the Big Push was going to finance infrastructure for development and economic prosperity.
What do you think of Mahama’s u-turn and do you think he can augment the policy once he comes back to power? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. Don’t forget to share and like this post as well. Thank you.
