Undoubtedly, education is the most important social enterprise of every country, and Ghana is no exception. Currently, almost a third of our national budget estimates is allocated to education.
In 2012, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), gave education special prominence when he made free senior high school education the dominant message of his campaign. When Nana Akuffo-Addo was given an emphatic endorsement by the delegates of the NPP as flag bearer once more on October 18, 2014, education consequentially catapulted itself to the front burner of the socio-economic political discourse.
On the other hand, President John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) government condemned the Free Senior High School initiative of the NPP. Many gurus in the NDC described the policy initiative as premature and unsustainable. In fact, many members of the NDC said such a policy could not be implemented. The party advocated quality education. Some 18 months after winning power, the NDC changed their political tune and started singing the music of "Free Senior High School" rather than the quality education which they had preached during the 2012 campaign. They propagated their message as if free education and quality education were mutually exclusive. Of course, they are not. In fact, Nana Akufo-Add0’s free education policy had quality education intrinsically built into it.
Change in belief?
The NDC government is now telling Ghanaians that they believe in free senior high school education, and that implementation of a "progressive free senior high school" policy will start in 2015. We are looking forward to the implementation of the policy in the face of a battered economy, and extensive and widespread corruption and wanton dissipation of government funds. As of now, almost two years into the Mahama administration, not even one of the 200 community day high schools has been completed. We have been told by the President that 73 new senior high schools are at various stages of completion. I will not believe this until I see them.
Teachers who are already in the system at various levels, especially the basic school level, have not been paid for several months. Teachers in tertiary institutions have not yet received their book and research allowances. Interest rates of huge loans contracted are becoming increasingly difficult to pay. Contractors on GETFund projects have not been paid for several months. Capitation grant is in arrears and the School Feeding Programme is in danger, and is threatening to collapse under the weight of huge debts facing participating individuals and groups.
In addition, statutory payments like Common Fund, GETFund and National Health Insurance Scheme have not been released since the beginning of 2014, and the government is thinking of implementing a free senior high school policy? I don't get it.
The argument that the provision of free senior high school education is already in the 1992 Constitution, and is therefore not an original idea or vision of Nana Akufo-Addo, the flag bearer of the NPP, is neither here nor there. Yes, Article 38(1) of the 1992 Constitution states that "The State shall provide educational facilities at all levels and in all Regions of Ghana, and shall, to the greatest extent feasible, make those facilities available to all citizens."
In addition, Article 38(2) states that "The Government shall, within two years after Parliament first meets after coming into force of this Constitution, draw up a programme for implementation within the following ten years, for the provision of free compulsory and universal basic education.”
More importantly, Article 38(3) also states that "The State shall, subject to the availability of resources, provide (a) equal and balanced access to secondary and other appropriate pre-university education, equal access to university or equivalent education, with emphasis on science and technology; (b) a free adult literacy programme, and a free vocational training, rehabilitation and resettlement of disabled persons: and (c) lifelong education."
Nowhere in the 1992 Constitution is the word "progressively" used to qualify the implementation of a free senior high school policy. This is a propagandist word by the NDC as a face-saving gimmick to implement a policy that they had condemned during the 2012 campaign.
Debate
It is the provision in Article 38(2) that this essay seeks to address, with the hope of generating a debate or an interrogation of the subject; Particularly, the provision of "free, compulsory and universal basic education," as well as "equal and balanced access to secondary and other appropriate pre-university education" { Art. 38(3)}. This will be examined against the background of an economy that faces seemingly unsurmountable challenges.
Obviously, the conditions that prevailed in 2012 are not the same as the conditions that prevail today and will perhaps persist in 2016 and even beyond. The provision is in the Constitution, but it takes political will and courage to bring it into a policy framework and a mode for implementation.
For the purposes of this essay, let us assume that various governments since 1992 have tried to provide educational facilities at all levels and in all regions in Ghana, and have to the greatest extent feasible made it available to all citizens, to meet the requirements of Article 38(1) of the 1992 Constitution. It is Article 38(2) of the Constitution that various governments have failed the nation miserably, or not risen to the task. No programme has been drawn up to implement a free, compulsory and universal basic education. Even if we postulate that basic education is free in Ghana, it is not compulsory by any stretch of imagination, and it has been 22 years since the Constitution came into force.
The constitution called for implementation of a free, compulsory basic education within "the following ten years," that is, by 2002.
I believe this constitutional provision has been violated, or to put it mildly, not been adhered to, because our fragile economy cannot sustain it. If it could not be done in the past when the economy was relatively stronger, I do not see how it can be done now. In fact, there is no legislation in place for a free, compulsory education yet. That is why I am proposing that such a legislation should be put before Parliament as soon as possible. But before such a legislation for compulsory basic education is introduced, the right structures must be put in place to make the policy sustainable.
Insurance Scheme
I am proposing a National Education Insurance Scheme. This insurance policy should be subscribed to by all parents of children of school age. Under this plan, parents will be required to subscribe to a policy for their children when they attain the age of one year. Subscription, that would be compulsory, could be private or public. Parents will continue to pay the premiums until their children attain the school age of five or six years when the policy will mature. At that point, education for the child will be free and compulsory and parents can be prosecuted for not ensuring that their children go to school.
Many enlightened visionary parents have similar education insurance policies for their children, and I will leave the technical details and modalities for the insurance experts to work on. This is unlike the National Health Insurance Scheme where everybody is supposed to be covered because everybody gets sick. This is supposed to involve only parents who have children of school age or will be of school age, and will be required by law. The National Health Insurance Scheme is voluntary, at least for now.
It is my belief that the funds that will accrue to this initiative can be invested profitably under an efficient government, and will lay the foundation for a free senior high school programme as well, as envisaged by the flag bearer of the NPP. Ghana needs a true free, compulsory education that is sustainable. When the needed resources are available, infrastructural needs will be met, teachers will be motivated and paid timeously, teaching and learning materials will be adequately provided and Ghana will have an efficient, free, quality education.
Finally, when these structures are put in place, it will lay the foundation for a National Education Policy framework that should be entrenched in our Constitution, adhered to and followed by all successive governments as required by law. This way, whatever programmes that will be introduced under the broad national policy will be sustainable.
The writer was a Member of Parliament for Akim Abuakwa North Constituency.
