Education: Assessing the Damages of Akufo-Addo’s Free SHS Policy – Part 1

I write this with a heavy heart. A sad and angry activitist who is helpless and disappointed with the current educational system in Ghana particularly our secondary schools. At the same time blaming myself and the many Ghanaians for not being angry enough.

I discovered something disheartening upon my arrival in Tamale. My niece who is a beneficiary of the Free SHS Policy under the Gold track batch stayed home for close to 2 months. Prior to this vacation, she was home from September 19, 2019 to November 18, 2019. She resumed school on November 18 and just yesterday, December 20 they went on vacation and will resume 1st week of March (no specific date). What this implies is that, for 6 months (half a year), she had contact with her tutors for just one (1) month and few weeks. What did she study? How was her knowledge tested? How is this an effective approach?

Why are teacher unions silent? Why are secondary school tutors silent? Why is the media silent? Is it by coincidence that every stakeholder who should be questioning this system is silent? Why are we citizens not talking about this?

For a policy to be effective, it needs to be criticised, assessed and re-strategise for effective implementation. A government that silent its citizens will leave to witness the damage of it’s authocracy. The bitter truth is that, the citizens will in the long run feel the impact and pay for their own silence. Do we realise what our silence is causing us? Do we realise how politics has eroded our thinking? Most importantly, do we realise that our children, the future leaders of this country are under utilising their skills and potentials?

This is sad

I’m asking all these questions for us to assess the damage of this approach. We can try to answer it but who will provide the right answers devoid politics? Lest I forget, the inequality this approach is creating between the Gold and green track students is the saddest. For a country that has a President championing SDGs, we should have known this approach will limit our ability to achieve SDG 10, 4, 5 and many more targets we set as a country.

If you’re a footsoldier and you come to this post to spew trash, i will flip my respectful face and show you the one you never want to see.

Let’s wise up Ghanaians. Our educational system is been rendered useless and we have to get angry enough to protest it.

Yours in citizenship