Among the very many Free SHS criticisms, is the one that bemoans exclusion of continuing senior high school students from the government program…
The Free Senior High School policy introduced by the new Nana Akufo-Addo government has entertained massive criticisms right from the word go, especially from members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
From the time the promise was issued by the NPP leader ahead of the 2016 election, up till now that implementation of the policy has commenced in earnest, the opposition NDC has continued to point out the various shortcomings of the policy.
Also See: Mzbel’s Son Enrolled in Achimota School Under Free SHS
Latest on the list of these Free SHS criticisms is one that points out government’s failure to include already existing senior high school students in the much-talked-about program.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu described NPP’s claims that they have fulfilled the free SHS promise as “hypocritical”.
“The continued claim by President Akufo-Addo and his acolytes that they have fulfilled their Universal Free SHS for all promise is simply hypocritical.”
The Minority is not happy with the fact that the classes of senior high school students who voted for the NPP because of the free SHS promise, will end up not benefiting from the highly promoted policy. And according to Mr. Iddrisu, this shortcoming has ended up justifying some critics’ claims that the policy is a hoax.
“By its inability to roll out Free SHS to cover those in second and third years, the NPP has only successfully vindicated those who said Akufo-Addo’s Free SHS promise was a hoax. What we have have been presented by the NPP is simply another version of Progressively Free SHS for some first years students,” the Minority Leader said.
Also Read: Everything About The Free SHS Policy
For the Minority, the incumbent government should at least, have rendered apologies for their inability to make the free SHS program universal as they promised during the 2016 campaigns.
“If the NPP had any modicum of respect for the good people of Ghana, they should at the very least be apologizing to Ghanaians for their inability to fulfill the promise for which they were voted,” Haruna Iddrisu complained.
Per NPP’s 2016 elections manifesto, the Akufo-Addo government will “redefine basic education to include Senior High School (SHS), covering vocational, agricultural and technical schools, and make it available for free on a universal basis to all Ghanaians.”
Recall also, that the Mahama-led NDC administration had in 2014, introduced what was known as Progressive Free Secondary Education, whereby the program initially started with only day students – a method that received massive criticisms from then opposition NPP.
As the tables have turned, now opposition NDC is pointing to the fact that the ruling NPP is deceptively dishing out something different from what they promised and at the same time, very similar to what they previously condemned. Click here to read more about other free SHS criticisms.
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