During an exchange of views on the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Publicity Secretary, Sammy Gyamfi, and investigative journalist, Manasseh Ajuru Awuni clashed as each side asserted their position. The Free Senior High School policy is a cornerstone of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s administration and has recently been recognised as a social intervention initiative.
Manasseh Ajuru Awuni maintains that the initiative was entirely Akufo-Addo’s idea, and that he introduced the idea during his 2008 presidential campaign.
He explained that despite initial resistance and criticism, Akufo-Addo stuck to the policy and it finally saw the light of day when he took office in 2017.
Azure maintains that previous efforts by former President John Mahama, the NDC flag-bearer for the 2024 elections, to introduce a version of Free SHS during his presidency were inadequate.
“Akufo-Addo held onto the free SHS but lost the 2008 elections. He held onto it and was defeated in 2012.
“Then in 2015, the NDC government led by John Mahama realised he was still holding onto the free SHS. They had always refused to give up but decided to nullify this policy by implementing something that was an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians.
“In September 2015, I wrote an article titled ‘The Lies About Mahama’s Free SHS Policy’ and this paragraph in the article shows the deception that the government has allegedly introduced to undermine Akufo-Addo’s free SHS,” he said.
He referred to a 2015 initiative by the Mahama government to provide students with minimal financial relief, but which was criticised as insufficient to cover the actual cost of education.
“The government has announced that GH¢12.2 million has been released for the implementation of the programme for the first semester of the 2015-2016 academic year.
“This measure will benefit 320,488 students, which means that each student will only benefit from GH¢38 during the first semester. 38 cedis is the amount each student will receive from this measure. Ask any SHS student how much each student pays just in PTA fees, let alone other expenses per term.’
“This is what the Mahama government did and no one can say SHS is free. When Mr Akufo-Addo took office in September the same year, he introduced free SHS. This was the first time in recent history that secondary education was truly free,” he added. However, he doubts Azure’s explanation, pointing to constitutional provisions and previous efforts aimed at phasing in free secondary education. According to Gyamfi, Section 25(1)(b) of the 1992 Constitution laid the foundations for Akufo-Addo’s election promise long before it was made into politics.
“The biggest bone of contention between the NDC and NPP in the free SHS debate was the issue of implementation approach. The NPP advocated a comprehensive implementation approach, while the NDC advocated a phased implementation approach with equal emphasis on access and quality. Right or wrong?
“In September 2015, S.E. John Dramani Mahama NDC made SHS free in phases, as he had been demanding for many years. Right or wrong?
“UNESCO commended John Mahama for launching the Phased Free Education Scheme in October 2015. Previously, Nana Addo had publicly praised Mahama for initiating the rollout of the Phased Free Education Programme. True or False?
“The Phased Free Education Scheme introduced by John Mahama in 2015 included GH¢54 for tuition fees for first year full-time and secondary school pupils for the 2016/2017 academic year and GH¢58 for first year tuition fees for boarding schools, not GH¢38” ¢You are correct in your assertion. This is stated in a widely publicised official press release from the Ghana Education Service,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi maintained that in contrast to the NPP implementation approach, the NDC approach focuses on phased implementation and places emphasis on both access and quality.
“The GH¢12.1 million you are talking about is only the initial financial release from government for the implementation of the Phased Free SHS Programme.
“The total government expenditure on the Phased Free SHS Programme for the 2015/2016 academic year was GH¢25.96 million. This is included in section 781 of the 2017 budget of the NPP approved by Parliament. True or False?
“The phased free SHS programme launched by the NDC/Mahama government in 2015 has benefited 320,488 full-time public SHS students.
“Government has also announced its intention to enrol 120,000 boarding students in the programme in the 2016/2017 academic year. This is set out in paragraph 109 of the 2016 first half budget audit report approved by Parliament,” he added.
