Education is an essential ingredient for national development. The basic and secondary educations are the fundamental elements to strengthen literacy in Ghana, and the leadership of the country should ensure that every child is presented the opportunity for these fundamentals.
During the State of the National address by Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, he said, “the success of all our plans and all our aspirations depends on our ability to educate our young people, and provide the opportunity for lifelong education to the adult population. Education is the key; education holds the key to the rapid development of our country; it holds the key to a better understanding and accommodation with our environment; it equips us with the skills required to deal with the world; education holds the key to the prosperous and happy Ghana we all want and deserve.”
There is a difference between affordable and accessible education in our society. Making education affordable is not necessarily accessible when only the affluent can afford it. For several years, Ghana’s education has been based on affordability which has denied millions of students the opportunity for secondary school. How do you explain to an average parent whose child has been sent home because of tuition that education is affordable in this country?
His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his administration have determined to make Senior High School (SHS) accessible to every child in Ghana. The campaign promise of FREE SHS is an effort to fulfill one of the developmental elements for the future of the nation success. The people of Ghana should uphold and defend the approach of the president to fund and strengthen the SHS system in the country. Free SHS is expensive and will cost the nation millions of dollars; however, this is a worthy investment for the future generation. Ghana is blessed with massive resources to nurture talented and gifted students who would one day return the benefits back to the development of the country.
In September 2017, the Free SHS program would be implemented and woe to any parent or guardian who denies his or her child from the opportunity to brighten his or her future; thus such parent or guardian should be penalized for it. Every student in Ghana will be presented the opportunity to brighten his or her future and parents have the mandate to ensure their children utilize this opportunity. The government of Ghana and its educational agencies should hold parents accountable for their children to attend classes and stay in school. There is a stigma that what belong to government is for no one and most people tend to abuse and mismanage government resources and benefits. The free SHS won’t be excluded from such mentality. As you blame the school system and teachers for the quality of education, let us place the ultimate mandate on parents to ensure students receive quality education under the free SHS program.
The penalization of parents if their children do not attend school and stay in class would spike the urgency for the intent of the free SHS program. You may ask why the need to fine parents who do not ensure their children benefit from the country’s investment, as a parent it is your responsibility to provide and make available to your child the education that would set him or her for future. The introduction of the Affordable Care Act mandated individual to obtain and maintain health insurance each month or pay tax penalty. The Obama administration knew the cost this Act would burden the taxpayers, and any individual who failed to get health insurance directly waste the fund that has made the health insurance affordable to every individual living in the U.S. The lawmakers realized that to avoid abuse of this benefit, they needed to penalize the individuals who do not use it. In a similar approach, the government of Ghana should mandate parents to enroll their children in the free senior high schools and make sure their children stay in class or pay for fines. One may say it is hash for parent to pay a fine for non-compliance. However, there should be circumstances where exemptions may apply.
The government needs more resources to implement and sustain the free SHS program. School infrastructure, good paying teachers and school administrators have to be in place to sure a conducive atmosphere for students to excel, and mother Ghana cannot afford to miss the return of this massive investment when parents/guardians decide to put their children in labor and deny them a better future.
The free SHS should be more important to the parents/guardians than it is to your children. Parents need to uphold and defend the program and make sure their children receive the best education H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo promised the Republic.
By Kwame Darko