As the nation inches closer to the 2024 general elections, some lecturers have taken it upon themselves to ensure that the pro-poor Free SHS policy is protected.
Under the banner “University Lecturers for Free SHS Ghana,” the lecturers are set to embark on an advocacy tour countrywide beginning in the Central, Upper East and Upper West regions from November 20 to 27.
The academics are of the strong conviction that, the only way Ghanaians can protect Free SHS – the most impactful social policy in the history of the country – is to elect Dr Bawumia as President.
Mahama not an option
To the lecturers, John Mahama and the NDC are not an option in the quest to protect free SHS.
This is due to the history of pronouncements John Mahama and other NDC key leaders have made against the policy. They bastardized the policy, describing it as useless, and said it would be disastrous to introduce it.
Against this backdrop, the lecturers are of the belief that a Mahama comeback will spell doom for Free SHS.
Central message
Free SHS has become a centre of campaign messages ahead of this year’s elections. Writing on the seven years of the introduction of the policy, the NPP vice presidential candidate, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO), who as Education Minister, supervised the implementation of the policy, said, “The sad reality was that hitherto, about 35% of children who had sat the BECE and had been placed in SHS could not take up their place for the primary reason that their families could not afford to pay the fees enable them to do so.”
He added: “Today, thanks to the President’s vision, the narrative is different, in spite of challenges, with the SHS population moving from 800,000 students at the end of 2016 to over 1.4 million today. This is fantastic by any measure.
This is undoubtedly the single most impactful social policy ever implemented in our country and Africa south of the Sahara.”
