[ 2017-05-17 ]

President Nana Akufo-Addo

Free SHS: Government must apologize for misleading Ghanaians
Educationist Prof D.K Agyemang has charged
government to render an unqualified apology to
Ghanaians for misleading them with regards to the
free SHS policy.

Barely three months to the implementation of the
policy, the Education Minister Mathew Opoku
Prempeh disclosed to Morning Starr host, Francis
Abban that only students who passed their BECE
exams will have the opportunity to enjoy the
policy.

The comment by the Minister is a clear departure
from pronouncements by President Akufo-Addo during
and after electioneering.

The latest was at the 60th anniversary celebration
of Okuapeman School on Saturday February 2, 2017
where he stated that: “Without any equivocation,
without any reservation, without any doubt to take
Ghana to the stage where public SHS education will
be free for every Ghanaian child.”

The seeming retreat on the subject by the
Education Minister which was aired on Tuesday’s
edition of the Morning Starr courted unfavourable
reactions among the general public and Civil
Society Organisations.

IMANI Ghana, for instance, described the
Minister’s disclosure as unfortunate and a clear
example of the “…inconsistencies in policy
making, policy planning and implementation.”

But commenting Wednesday May 17, 2017 on the
development on Morning Starr, Prof. Agyemang said
the mêlée generated by the Minister’s comment
was unwarranted.

“…It is rather specifying the rules or the
laws that will govern the free SHS policy,” he
told Morning Starr host Francis Abban.

According to him, the uproar regarding the
Minister’s comment was as a result of
government’s miscommunication of the
implementation process of the policy.

“After all government is not sacrosanct and it
is made up of human beings and that we should
rather back them for being sincere before the
policy is rolled out,” he said.

That notwithstanding, he charged government to
apologize to Ghanaians for the gaffe in its
communication of the policy saying “I’ll
expect government to ask for pardon for misleading
us…first of all let government ask for pardon
for misleading the country by saying it is free
education.

Source - Starrfmonline.com

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