The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has asked the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to offer an unqualified apology to Ghanaians for failing to construct all the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools (SHS).
According to NUGS, the NDC, led by President Mahama, who promised to build the schools during his first term in office, had deceived Ghanaians over the construction of the schools.
“The Government of Ghana must apologize for putting Ghanaians on the wheels of deception and false pretence as a result of a monumental failure to construct the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools,” according to a statement issued by the national executives of NUGS.
The statement, signed by NUGS Coordinating Secretary and Press & Information Secretary, Paul Gyan and Thomas Takyi-Bonsu respectively, said “education is a transformational pillar on which the human resource capacity of our very country can be well trained, nurtured and polished for the qualitative benefit of the country and the entire world.”
“For this reason, under no circumstance should the educational fortress of a developing country like Ghana be underestimated and disrespected by politicians as a means of enriching their political manifestos and campaign messages.”
Speaking at the inauguration of the new Abodoman Community Day Senior High School at Agona Abodom in the Central Region recently, President Mahama said the full complement of the 200 schools would be delivered if he is given a second term.
That was after he had in November 2014 cut the sod for the construction of the first 50 schools.
Government intends to build the new schools to improve access to secondary education and help implement its progressive free Senior High School policy.
President Mahama, in March this year, gave the assurance that the majority of the 200 schools would be completed before November.
On Wednesday, 19th November 2014, the Finance Minister, in an address to Parliament on the 2015 budget and on page 27, paragraph 99 of his speech, said that “Mr. Speaker, President Mahama’s pledge to construct additional 200 senior high schools by 2015 is very much on course, so far, the first 50 are at various stages of completion, and this budget has also made provision for the next 50.
“Under the World Bank supported secondary education improvement project, an additional new 23 are being constructed, therefore this means that so far, funding has been procured for 123 out of the 200 promised Senior High Schools, we remain confident by meeting our target in line with our prudent fiscal policy that all major capital project must be fully funded before granted,” the Finance Minister told lawmakers.
But NUGS strongly believes the NDC regime is not being honest with Ghanaians over the construction of the schools.
According to NUGS, “If the government is being honest to the people of Ghana and for that matter the students of this great nation, then by now, almost 22 months after that part of the budget was read, indicating that all the three phases of the construction has different and separate funding, 50 should have been completed by now, the additional 23 that were funded by the World Bank as at November 2014 should have been completed by now as well, the 2015 budget also made provision for the construction of another 50, this batch too should have been completed, because they were all fully funded.
“It is sad and an unquantifiable shame that the current government has never ceased to disappoint with its unbelievable bravado to always disregard, disrespect and intimidate the educational framework of Ghana purposely to score undeserving political capital and votes,” NUGS said in the statement.
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