The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked the public to disregard some publications from a section of the press it describes as “fake NPP media” about John Mahama cancelling the feeding payments for Free SHS if elected.
In a circular shared by the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, on Friday, September 20, 2024, he said such publications are mere propaganda, adding that the former President has rather shared how he is going to embolden the policy to run it better by restrategising the funding for the policy.
As part of his vision for free SHS, John Mahama has made public, his intentions to abolish the policy’s secretariat for it to be administered by the Ghana Education Service (GES), should he get the opportunity to become President again.
He says the GES, as policy implementer, has over the years, implemented all government policies on education, and that of the free SHS should not be an exclusion.
During his consultative meeting with leadership of three pre-tertiary teacher unions Friday, April 19, 2024, John Mahama said he will integrate the secretariat into the education service directorate so that it wouldn’t be independent as the status quo.
He reiterated during the same meeting, his intention of mainstreaming TVET and STEM education into all senior high schools across the country rather than allowing them to stand alone.
The science labs of the Community Day SHSs, as well as the science resource centres, according to the former President, are going to be used to propel the integration of STEM and TVET into the senior high schools.
“We are going to mainstream TVET and STEM into all secondary schools. We don’t believe that TVET and STEM should be stand alone in special secondary schools. In this regard we’ll revamp the science resource centres in order that clusters of schools can use those resource centres.
“The imperative of the Free SHS Secretariat being supervised by the Education Directorate is our considered view. The education service which is an implementation agency has the capacity to implement the free shs policy. The NDC will therefore integrate the free shs secretariat into the education service directorate and not have them exist as separate entities.” he assured during his meeting with National Association of Graduate Teachers, Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana and the Ghana National Association of Teachers.
This, is part of the reasons Sammy Gyamfi says the said publications by some media houses indicating the NDC flag bearer’s intention to cancel the payment of the feeding fee for the policy is a mere propaganda.
Below are portions of the circular he shared.
IGNORE THE FAKE STORIES ABOUT CANCELLATION OF FREE SHS FEEDING PAYMENTS, ATTRIBUTED TO H.E. JOHN DRAMANI BY THE FAKE NPP MEDIA.
For the records, H.E. John Mahama has never said that he will stop funding or payments for Free SHS feeding. On the contrary, he has consistently said that he will decentralize the procurement food and allow every SHS to procure their own food to boost their local economies and prevent undue delays in food procurement.
Source:onuaonline.com