Saturday,
October 27, 2012
Some commentators responding to my opinion piece
challenging the feasibility of Akufo-Addo’s promise on free Senior High School
education have rightly explained the benefits of education and why they think
that promise is laudable. I don't doubt the fact that formal education is a
necessity.
To clarify my stance, let me say that I value education in
all its forms and stages (from the informal to the formal one, low-level or higher)
but not what Akufo-Addo is making noise about. I am guided in principle by some
concerns, which Akufo-Addo’s pronouncements haven’t allayed so far:
·
What made him think
that the country’s problems are caused by lack of free education at the senior
secondary school level to produce the expertise needed for national development?
Why has he skipped the lower levels, where formal education
begins from? I know the Rawlings administration introduced the Free Compulsory
Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) whose implementation isn’t being done
seamlessly. We can tell from the results of the BECE exams what the challenges
are.
We won’t even talk much about the wordy warfare between the
NPP and NDC governments concerning the duration of the Junior Secondary School
level; nor about other major problems that detract from efforts to make
education accessible and excellent. So, if the lower levels aren't strong, how
can they support the upper level (SHS) that Akufo-Addo is concentrating on?
·
Why is he not going
beyond the SHS level to let us know how the students will be catered for after
completing SHS? Will they be abandoned or will the free education package carry
them through the tertiary level too?
·
In any case, do we
have enough institutions at the tertiary level to absorb all those
beneficiaries of Akufo-Addo’s free education?
So far, Akufo-Addo hasn't told us anything about this
aspect nor is he even sure of how the system will absorb these products. Of
course, we don't expect all SHS products to move on to the tertiary level; but
there should be a safety net for them, which is missing from Akufo-Addo's equation.
Again, we assume that after getting the free education, the
SHS products will not be left on their own in terms of using their knowledge to
"pay back" to the country. Where will they go to do so when the job
market is persistently shrinking? Or do we assume that completing SHS
will equip the students with the requisite skills that they need to stand on
their feet as entrepreneurs to grow the national economy? Where will they go
after the SHS for the country to gain from them? Let’s remember that education
is expensive and the country needs to reap whatever it sows.
We expect Akufo-Addo to go beyond merely bawling, howling,
and jowling about this free SHS education promise. He should give us specifics.
His supporters shouldn’t substitute specifics with insults at those of us who
continue to criticize him. It’s not the solution to this credibility problem.
Do you know how long it took him to even come out with
tentative figures on how much the country might spend in the first year of
supporting free SHS education? He dodged the BBC interviewer only to come out
with figures that were more alarming in their being cooked up on impulse than
reflecting reality.
We are still not persuaded that Akufo-Addo knows what he is
talking about; hence, our suspicion that he is just engaging in political
jingoism to bamboozle the gullible electorate.
We are not
persuaded at all that he is being sincere. He is just taking an undue advantage
of the plight of students and their parents/guardians who are reeling under the
weight of high education costs.
I will definitely
expect more from Akufo-Addo than what he has given me so far. He will do
himself a world of good if he addresses issues in a better manner than this
flippant one. It seems he simply wants to take chances by throwing in such a
promise, adding more to it, and sitting back to hope that Ghanaians will
swallow his bait and then..... SNAP!!... he will be at the Osu Castle when the
elections are over. Electoral victory doesn't come that easily, especially when
very serious questions hang around him and his promises raise red flags all
over the place.
We want our
children to get the best of education, but we don't have to buy into anything
that comes from anybody, especially those we can prove to be too desperate for
political power either because they consider the Presidency as their
entitlement or because they think that they are altruistic enough to become
Messiahs to Ghanaians.
Having once been
bitten, Akufo-Addo is refusing to be more than twice shy. He is doing all he
can to win the elections. That is why he is hell-bent on using promises as his
trump-card. It is dicey for him; and this one on education may end up undoing
any gains he has made so far.
I hear people are
seriously questioning and repudiating this particular promise because they can
read deeper meanings into the rhetoric to become alarmed at the outright
duplicity that is being sprung on them by Akufo-Addo. Contrary to what his
lackeys in the mass media, the clergy, schools, or chieftaincy may be churning
out to suggest that this promise has been overwhelmingly endorsed, the still
water is running too deep for Akufo-Addo's comfort. He had better turn to more
relevant messages to assuage doubts, fears, and suspicions. That's a whole new
game.
In any case, the
debate will continue till Election Day. Then, we will all know who will be who.
The Presidency beckons but it is not for just anybody who is glib of tongue.
The race is not for the swift but for the calculating candidates who know how
to connect with the electorate. It is for those whose character or manner of
politicking doesn't raise red flags. For now, there are red flags hanging
everywhere Akufo-Addo and his band go. Need I say anymore?
- E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
- Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor
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