PPP Promises Free, Compulsory Basic Education For All

The Progressive People�s Party (PPP) Thursday laid out its educational policy which seeks to make education from the kindergarten to the senior high school level free and compulsory for every Ghanaian child. After indicating extensively how the policy would be funded from the national coffers, the party challenged all the other political parties seeking the mandate of Ghanaians to join in the debate on how to implement free and compulsory basic and secondary education. It advised the other parties to refrain from the unproductive discussion of whether or not the policy was feasible. Presenting the PPP�s educational policy, christined,�No Child Left Behind at Home�, at a media encounter in Accra, its Founder and presidential aspirant, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, said the policy was in response to Section 38 (3) of Chapter Six of the 1992 Constitution. He said the policy was also grounded on the PPP�s belief that education was a better driver of the nation�s economy than gold, oil, gas and other natural resources. The 1992 Constitution states, �The state shall, subject to the availability of funds, provide equal and balanced access to secondary and other appropriate pre-university education, with emphasis on science and technology.� On how such a policy would be funded, Dr Nduom said a PPP government would re-order government priority areas and ensure that the educational sector was given more budgetary allocation. He stated that the strategy to achieve the policy was based on allocating a minimum of 30 per cent of the national budget to education, since the sector should be the number one priority. Secondly, he said, a PPP administration would strengthen government institutions, especially revenue collection and generation institutions, as well as help check corruption. With the implementation of such strategies, Dr Nduom, who was once a Minister of Economic Planning in the Kufuor administration, said a lot more revenue would be saved to fund education. �The high levels of corruption going on at our ports and borders can be curbed and the money invested in education,� he said. He stated that some of the government�s waste and leakage were not entirely cases of corruption but mismanagement and lack of a sense of urgency. �If we were prudent over the years as a government in our dealings, we would not be budgeting GH�700 million for judgement debts today. When we deal with carelessness and self-centredness on the part of government officials, we will save to invest in education,� he added. Dr Nduom stated that from 2013 to 2017, a PPP government would spend GH�5.5 billion on education and explained that with a national budget of GH�7.9 billion in 2011, the NDC government had allocated GH�1.9 billion, representing 25.02 per cent, to the educational sector. He said when the PPP came to government in 2013, out of a national budget of GH�15. 8 billion, it would apportion GH�4.7 billion to the educational sector, with substantial increases every year. He explained that the PPP�s educational policy was different from the �expanding access� policy outlined by the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, and the �free senior high school education� policy proposed by the NPP�s presidential aspirant, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The PPP�s policy recognised the need to expand educational facilities and enable every child�s demand for access to be met, he said. Dr Nduom said it was an undisputed fact that the present educational system lacked the quality it deserved and noted that if that was not addressed, efforts at providing compulsory and continuous education would yield very few results. To achieve quality, which is the basis for success, he said a PPP government would urgently resolve other related problems, such as the unattractive teaching profession, low teacher motivation, low teacher-students ratio, inadequate teaching facilities and instructional materials, poor supervision/monitoring and inadequate quality/quantity of educated people to meet current industry demands.