Redress imbalance in basic educational sector — Akufo-Addo

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, has urged the government to make a conscious effort to redress the balance in the basic education sector.

He said public schools in the country must have a reputation for quality and excellence across the board.

“We cannot afford to have differing standards of education depending on how rich or poor a parent is. The tragedy for our education is that the middle classes have opted out of the public school system at the most critical stage, which is the basic school level,” Nana Akufo-Addo said when he delivered the Second Aliu Mahama Memorial Lecture in Accra last Tuesday.

Public/private basic schools

Nana Akufo-Addo, who was speaking on the theme of the lecture, “One Ghana, securing our future,” noted that the middle classes had resorted to educating their children in private schools, while the public schools were deprived of the inputs the articulate middle classes would otherwise contribute to the running of the public schools. 

“It is in all our interests that the public schools are as well-equipped as possible so all our children get a fair chance at realising their potential,” he stated.

Redefining basic education

“We secure our future and build the prosperous Ghana we all want when every child goes to school and stays in school till he or she finishes senior high school,” he said.

Touching on senior high school (SHS) education, Nana Akufo-Addo said basic education should commence from kindergarten to senior high school and that it must be free and compulsory for all children. 

Reaction to free SHS

Reacting to a recent announcement by the government on the adoption of a free SHS policy, he said many people had done a lot of work on the policy and would be happy to share their knowledge if they were asked.

“If President Mahama is, indeed, introducing free SHS in the 2015-2016 academic year, I would say hallelujah and be thankful to the Almighty for this particular road to Damascus moment. It means that we all now agree that it is both doable and necessary. Amen” he said.

Role of teachers

Nana Akufo-Addo underscored the importance of teachers in the educational sector saying that the Ghana “we envisage would place teachers in an important, respectable status”.

He said teachers would be well trained and properly remunerated to enable them to play the front line role in moulding the workforce that would transform the economy. 

Technical education

On technical education, he said the secure future envisaged would mean that the education system would place proper emphasis on the teaching of the sciences, mathematics, engineering, enterprise and innovation. 

“Above all, it must move away from rote learning and stress the capacity to think, and so enhance our ability to solve problems. No longer should mathematics strike terror in the hearts of some children, but we shall as a people help build a happy atmosphere in schools for our children and for their teachers,” he said. 

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