Former President John Dramani Mahama has allayed the fears of a possible cancellation of the free Senior High School (SHS) educational policy should he return to power insisting that “free SHS has come to stay.”
Rather, he said if he assumes office in 2021, he will address all the bottlenecks associated with the current policy by holding a stakeholders meeting within his first three months involving parents, teachers and experts.
“Indeed, no government, either present or in the future, can reverse the policy because it is captured in our 1992 Constitution,” the former President said at the official opening of the 27th Annual Presidential Delegates Congress of the Ghana National Union of Technical Students in Kumasi yesterday.
It was a convocation of all the technical universities to elect new leaders to shape the vision of their union.
Make it enjoyable
Former President Mahama said: “I am determined to make the free SHS a beneficial learning experience more than the current miserable condition our children are facing under Nana Akufo-Addo.”
“We have an obligation to make it a qualitative and enjoyable experience for our children,” he added.
He said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had a plan of completing the remaining of the 200 Community Day Schools and build extra ones within densely-population areas, including the Zongos, in order to bring secondary education to the doorsteps of the ordinary Ghanaian.
Technical and Vocational Education Training
Mr Mahama said if voted into power again, the NDC would continue to make Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) an alternative first choice for students and not for “rejected students.”
“Indeed, I daresay that we need our best and brightest students to take to the path of TVET if we are to transform this country,” he said.
Mr Mahama added that that would help correct the erroneous impression that technical universities were meant for drop-outs and rejected students.
He urged the present government to help complete the process of upgrading the Bolga and Wa polytechnics into technical universities.
Other technical varsities
The Interim Vice-Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University, Professor Michael Agbesi Acheampong, urged the government to speed up the auditing process that would lead the remaining polytechnics to be upgraded to technical universities.
Prof. Acheampong touted the Kumasi Technical University as the one leading the process and urged all to make technical universities, the country’s power base, strong.
