ALL HAIL THE ERA OF FREE SHS – IT IS FINALLY HERE
By Iddi Muhayu-Deen
Believe it or not, we are now in the era of Free SHS
and surely, this should make you happy if you love your country. Glory be thy
name for making me live to see this day. You would remember that the cynics
told us that this moment would never come. In fact, they even told us that if Free
SHS has ever been possible in Ghana, a certain Dr. Kwame Nkrumah would have
implemented it. They also said that anything free, lacks quality and therefore
we shouldn't waste our time with the talk about Free Education and in
particular, Free SHS.
They essentially came across as suggesting that
everything was possible in Ghana including going to the moon and building
stomach infrastructure EXCEPT Free SHS. No wonder they only win elections in
the prisons and NOT in educational establishments. They said a lot of negative
things against free education. And as if they hadn't said enough, they also
told us that any politician or political party in Ghana that claims they would
implement Free SHS if voted for, was engaged in politics of deception and naked
mendacity and therefore should be DISREGARDED.
They cared very little about the annual national
tragedy where hundreds and thousands of our younger brothers and sisters are
compelled to prematurely truncate their education upon completing JHS; because
their parents or guardians, genuinely, do not have the money to pay for their
SHS education. I suppose their prescription is that the sons and daughters of
say, the Charcoal Seller in my hometown, Kete-Krachi, should naturally grow up
and become Charcoal Sellers whiles the children of the lawyers, bankers and
doctors grow up becoming lawyers, bankers and doctors as the case may be. To
them, your family background or home should necessarily determine what kind of
future you would have.
The future of these poor and innocent students
doesn't matter to them. Perhaps, all that matters to them is how to enrich
themselves and their cronies at our expense; so that, they could send their
children to the luxurious schools within and outside the Ghanaian jurisdiction.
In effect, they saw Education as the PRESERVE of the privilege few rather than
a RIGHT for all. They gave no dame about, for instance, the profound observation
made by one of the World's all-time finest Human Rights Activist, Malcom X, who
contended that, "Education is the PASSPORT to the future, for tomorrow
belongs to only those who prepare for it today". However, these
unrepentant cynics I'm talking about would have none of that.
But the good news is that this country has been
blessed with one particular man who sees EDUCATION as EVERYTHING. He indeed
sees education as the passport to the future. Just like Tony Blair, the former
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, if you gave this man an opportunity to
make three most important investments in the lives of his people, he would,
without equivocation, tell you that his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
choice would be EDUCATION, EDUCATION and EDUCATION. He has, both in words and
in deeds, consistently maintained that no Ghanaian child should stop schooling
because of financial challenges; else the State should be blamed for failing
that child.
To him, central government must necessarily do
everything to ensure that every Ghanaian child receives formal education, at
least, up to the Secondary Level in order to give true meaning to our
fundamental constitutional principle that says that, EDUCATION IS A RIGHT AND
NOT A PRIVILEGE. This is the very principle and conviction underpinning his
agelong position to roll out Free SHS system if he ever got an opportunity to
be President of this country.
Anytime he spoke about his Free Education or Free SHS,
he was heavily lampooned and bastardized by yet again, these cynics of our
time. Like I said in my intro, they made us to believe that this man didn't
know what he was talking about, and more instructively, they made us to believe
that he was deceiving Ghanaians and that, his true intent, was to use this Free
SHS mantra to win votes; nothing more, nothing less.
As you know, the cynics had their way in the 2012
general elections because majority of the Ghanaian electorates believed them
and voted against Free SHS. So, by that, these cynics had another opportunity
to rule this country. You and I would bear testimony to the fact that they
messed up everything including EDUCATION whilst visiting untold hardship and
hopelessness on the Ghanaian.
But in the 2016 elections, glory be to God, the
story was completely different. Ghanaians voted overwhelmingly for Free SHS and
for that matter the man I'm talking about, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who was
the 2016 Presidential Candidate of the NPP and now, the President of Ghana. And
true to their electoral promise, we are today seeing the FULL IMPLEMENTATION of
the much talked about FREE SHS by the Nana Addo-led NPP government.
Interestingly, they didn't have to wait for a year or two in order to settle
down before implementing this monumental project.
They are actually implementing this grandiose policy
within their first year in government, which is uncharacteristic of Ghanaian
governments since independence in 1957. It just couldn't have been better.
Aside the President, one name that stands out in this Free SHS conversation is,
the Minister of Education, Hon. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, popularly known as Napo.
No wonder, President Akufo-Addo singles him out for commendations anytime he
touts this historic Free SHS achievement of his government. Believe it or not,
Free SHS is here with us. The Akufo-Addo government has done it.
And guess what? The cynics are back in town with yet
again some ridiculous claims. They now tell us that the very Free SHS which
they conspicuously said could NOT be implemented in Ghana, was actually
implemented in the country when they were in government. Yes, you heard me
right; they said they, rather than the Akufo-Addo government, implemented Free
SHS and so, we should give them that CREDIT. Whilst they are saying that, some
of them are also raising doubts about the reality of a Free SHS system in Ghana
as we speak.
How can you, in one breath, say something is NOT possible
and in another breath, say you have implemented it? A typical case of
approbation and reprobation! What do they take Ghanaians for? Some zombies or
what? Perhaps, they should be reminded that they can only fool all the people
some of the time and some of the people all the time but surely, NOT all the
people all the time.
Having said that, I wish to invite you my fellow
countrymen and women to join me SALUTE our hardworking President and Vice as
well as other leading members of the NPP government especially the Education
Minister and his Deputies for doing what no government in our history has been
able to even contemplate. Beginning this academic year and effective today,
September 11, 2017, our younger siblings who enter SHS, are going to enjoy free
tuition, free textbooks, free uniform, free admission fees, free science centre
fees, free utility fees, free computer lab fees, free library fees, free
examination fees, free boarding fees and free food for all day students.
It is most gratifying to note that government has
already released money to all the public Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the
country to cater for these cost elements. The government of President
Akufo-Addo is of the firm conviction that, by making public Senior High School
(SHS) education totally free for every Ghanaian child, the nation would be on
the right trajectory to building an educated populace for speedy national
development and progress. They have promised and they have delivered. If this
doesn't make you happy as a Ghanaian, I wonder what else will. Let’s remain
good citizens for the love of our country.
Assalamu alaik
Iddi Muhayu-Deen
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