The biggest debate in any society has always revolved around the type of education that will produce the skills required for knowledge and enlightenment.
Every educational project should empower the youth to lead the crusade for wealth creation and prosperity.
Since independence, governments have initiated many reforms to bring educational standards to levels comparable to the best in the world.
Some of the well-known reform commissions and committees have included the Dzobo Commission, the Evans Anfom and the Anamoah-Mensah committees that recommended the junior and senior secondary schools concept.
The Dzobo Commission in 1973 recommended the junior secondary school concept, as well as two years lower senior secondary school and two years upper senior secondary school.
In 1974, the Evans Anfom Committee recommended the establishment of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to implement the content and structure of education as published by the NRC regime in 1973.
Again, in 1987, the PNDC regime looked at educational reforms with the view to fully implementing the Dzobo Report with a slight modification of three years junior secondary school and three years senior secondary school.
When President Kufuor assumed the reins of government in 2001, he set up the Anamoah-Mensah Committee in 2002 to look at the challenges of education in the 21st century and that committee recommended the status quo.
These reforms were not carried out without the usual furore associated with any change in policy, as the Daily Graphic recalls the heated debate that characterised the discussions for the implementation of the junior secondary school concept in 1987.
It is against this background that the Daily Graphic is not perturbed by the debate on free secondary school education and the manifesto pledge by the National Democratic Congress to construct 200 SHSs by the end of 2016.
The debate has centred on the feasibility of the free education concept and the source of funding for the construction of the new community day senior secondary schools.
These people expect the government to improve and expand facilities in existing secondary schools in order to achieve the goal of enhancing access to education at all levels.
President John Mahama yesterday cut the sod to mark the construction of the 50 SHSs at Nyanoa in the Upper West Akyem District in the Eastern Region.
We know the debate and disagreements over the policy of the government will not end now but we should heed the advice of the President that “Ghana is a country in a hurry“ and that there was no need for arguments over trivial issues.
The government will need the support of all to attain its objective of improving access to education.
Whatever our concerns, there is no doubt that Ghana needs more senior secondary schools to provide more access to education, as we are told that last year more than 40,000 qualified students could not gain admission to senior secondary schools because of lack of facilities.
The Daily Graphic, however, appeals to the government not to sweep the concerns of the people under the carpet but critically examine them with the view to improving the implementation of the educational initiatives devoid of partisan considerations.
