Former President John Dramani Mahama has said he would not have done the Akufo-Addo government’s Free Senior High School (SHS) policy if he was still president.
Mr Mahama, who has been touring and campaigning in the Central Region to gain the mandate of delegates of the party as the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2020 general polls, told party supporters in the Cape Coast North Constituency that he will institute a national stakeholders’ conference on the future of Free SHS if he wins the next election.
“We shall come together and decide on the need for Free SHS” he said.
According to him, the NDC has “stated its position on the policy before”.
Mr Mahama pointed out that under the tenure of fellow flagbearer contender Ekwow Spio–Garbrah as Minister of Education in the Rawlings administration, the government organised a national conference on education and invited teachers, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Organise Labour and other associations to deliberate on the best way forward for Ghana’s education.
It was at that conference, Mr Mahama said, that “a decision was taken to introduce the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund) as a means of financing education in Ghana”.
He said as president for the second time, he would organise a similar conference that will culminate in the production of strategies on the future of the policy.
“It is the same thing [and] I believe that if Ghanaians come together, we can come out with a workable timetable and schedule for implementing a new Free SHS,” he stressed.
