The Ministry of Education has reacted to a suggestion by Ken Ofori Atta that persons who can afford to pay fees for the education of their wards be excluded from the government's Free Senior High School (SHS) Programme.
According to the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, spoke for himself as a parent and that, that does not represent the government’s position on the policy.
He insisted what Mr Ofori-Atta said is not a policy statement, thus, his personal opinion.
The government is facing some challenges in the financing of the flagship free SHS education programme and in a television interview on Citi TV Monday, Mr Ofori Atta suggested that parents who can afford should be allowed to pay for the fees of their wards.
But reacting, Dr Yaw Adutwum, the Deputy Minister of Education said, “for making such a statement I will rather applaud him for making a statement that said we cherish your opinions, bring your ideas.”
Asked whether government will not look at the substance of the idea going forward and review the free SHS policy, Dr Yaw Adutwum said: “We are talking about some people should pay, others should not, and there is a history in this country, over 60 years of history where secondary education I think the feeding component was free.”
“In a country where people are not mandated to file their income taxes, how do you know who can afford and who cannot afford, so it is a very good conversation, different countries different metrics,” Dr Adutwum said.
Source: Graphic.com
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
confusion has become hard for then\m the comprehend
I respect IMANI as an Institution, a Think Tank, and what they do. But it is rather becoming too rampant nowadays, rather, bossy and arrogant in terms of the language Mr. Cudjoe uses to get his opinion expressed. To me, he seems to sound too self-opinionated and portrays himself as the one, who always thinks he knows the best. From the very onset, we are aware of IMANI 's stance against the Free SHS in terms of its universal funding. But IMANI has not come out, categorically, to say how they are going to implement it to exclude those who can afford to pay. This stance to date just stands populistic in space and IMANI keeps on hammering it. The usage of vouchers sounds simple, but how are you going to identify parents who are going to be issued with vouchers in our communities, in the first place. It will be the same parents who are formally captured in our small tax net. And that will mean double burden. You see, the politicians do not have the luxury of time to prepare comprehensively for implementation of all policies. The four-year mandate is too short a time to make a tangible impact in the political space to accord you the two-term mandate. In our part of the world political space and the practice of multiparty democracy, the term continuity of policy by the opposition Party then in power is near alien. Indeed the goodwill of the NPP should be acknowledged and encouraged to start their programmes, make mistakes along the line, accept meaningful inputs, and correct them going forward. I think our circumstance to date makes this option plausible. IMANI should stop threatening and be issuing an ultimatum. Informed criticism and meaningful dialogue will help. But polemics, populism and the excesses of the likes won't help.
How are we going to determine those who are willing and can afford to pay from those who cannot pay?