A lecturer at the University for Development Studies Dr Micheal Ayamga has stated that until there is equality in the quality of education, it is impossible to say the country runs a free senior high school education.
According to him there are still huge gaps in standards as far as secondary education is concerned. He laments over the unavailability of basic educational facilities, and unstable curriculum adding it is a challenge and asked that government focuses on improving the current educational system rather than making it free.
Dr Ayamga’s comment was in reaction to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s hint at the Global Education Summit, in London that Government is considering free education at the tertiary level, following the successful implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) policy.
The President also mentioned the students’ loan scheme as one area which had seen major improvement. He said until recently, students were required to find a guarantor to access a loan but that has since been removed and students, who hold the Ghana Card, can now go on the basis of that to get the loan, which is also going to mean a significant expansion of education at the tertiary level. Dr Ayamga was sharing his opinion in an earlier interview with Zaa news.
Dr. Ayamga thinks the university and tertiary education system is not robust enough, and government should be concerned about providing them needed resources to enable them train and produce students that will be useful to the country. He further indicates that government should consider achieving quality and equality at the secondary school level and learn from the bottle neck of the implementation of the free senior high school before implementing such a policy.
By:Lilian D. Walter/zaanews.com/Ghana
