The Minority in Parliament is claiming there is a decline in the quality of secondary education following the introduction of the Free Senior High School programme.
According to former Deputy Education Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, government’s current education policy has focused too much on quantity instead of quality.
He is disappointed the midyear budget review statement presented by the Finance Minister on Thursday did not address the issue.
“You see a government in a dilemma, a government that does not want to accept that things are tough, that the implementation of the Free SHS has been a disaster so far.
“They cannot find resources to address the quality side of things,” Okudzeto Ablakwa said.
Free SHS, a major 2016 campaign promise was implemented by the Akufo-Addo led government in the 2017 academic year.
Its implementation has been fraught with some challenges of overcrowding but the government remains resolute in its commitment to implementing the policy.
But the Minority in parliament is not convinced.
Okudzeto Ablakwa maintained the poor implementation of the policy will have dire consequences on education in Ghana.
“We are not just interested in sending our children to school. We want them to graduate and compete favorably with their colleagues all over the world.
“It is a global village now. Globalisation makes the world very small. We cannot be churning free SHS graduates who are half-baked and who can barely communicate.
He blamed the slump in performance in the 2018 WASSCE exams on the implementation of the free SHS.
Source: myjoyonline.com
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Some members of parliament like Okudzeto Ablakwa just wake up from their slumber after the humiliating defeat and want to make their presence felt. When did educational standards started declining. The first batch of students who just passed out are you and your NDC's handiwork of which you played a vital role of Deputy Education Minister. In effect you are telling us that you did a very bad job. If you care to know, I have benefited immensely from the free SHS because I could not make ends meet under your regime.
If this was your ex-gratia, you NDC & NPP folks will be screaming Yeah! Yeah! You guys opposed NHIS and are now opposing the Ghana card and free SHS... must you oppose everything? At what point do we us a people start thinking and advocating for the interest of mother Ghana? Okugyimito, can you honestly say allowing our kids to have free education is a bad policy? The first batch are only in their first year so how can you possibly blame them for this year's poor Maths and English results? Everybody who has gone for further education outside Ghana even after first degree will tell you that we struggle with proper writing and verbal communication. We use "big" words but we don't communicate effectively. Especially those of us who didn't go through the O level/A level system. Maybe that is something we must fixed. Perhaps we should focus on core Math, English & Science with programming,french, philosophy and logical reasoning as electives. When the kids go to university and they want to study economics, government, agric and all the other subjects they can take them at the university level. Yes, we need to restructure our educational system but you cannot blame free SHS... no you can't!
MUST EVERY THING BE POLITICS?
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY EVERY TIME THERE IS AN ISSUE MY PEOPLE (NDC) ARE QUICK TO SAY SOMETHING. EFO,PLEASE FOR GOD SAKE ADVISE YOURSELF AND THE OTHER PEOPLE TO THINK CRITICALLY OF WHATEVER THEY WANT TO SAY BEFORE THEY COME OUT. THESE THINGS GIVE OUR OPPONENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE FUN OF US WHEN WE MEET OUR FRIENDS FROM THE OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES TO DISCUSS ON ISSUES CIRCULATING ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA. ALREADY WE ARE LOSING SOME OF OUR SUPPORTERS TO THE NPP AND IF YOU PEOPLE JUST COME TO SAY SUCH THINGS THAT CANNOT BE CRITICALLY ANALYSED OUR OPPONENTS ARE ABLE TO PUNCH HOLES IN THE ARGUMENT AND MAKE MOCKERY OF US.AS FOR THIS ONE, HONORABLE,PLEASE COME AGAIN.
Waaa look. see who is talking. decline in education started from 1992. if you don't know. when secondary education was 5 years and 7 years, education was education, not what is happening nowadays. Sit up and rethink your so called survey. When was free SHS implemented? Are you serious or this is just gutter propaganda?
This is a talk of an illiterate. What a dis graceful analysis by somebody who call himself Honorable
What kind of survey did he do to arrive at this conclusion? Always using political lenses to ague a case. Masa do a proper survey and come out with a concrete finding, then we can interrogate, but no this your wayward analyses.
The students are simply not learning. I have observed for sometime now students in uniform fill internet cafes during school hours chatting on the computers or soliciting for funds from unknown computer friends. Why won't they fail. Smoking of wee on the high rise among students all over.
Ablakwa, what kind of flaw analysis is this? Those who completed SHS in 2018 are not products of free SHS. Since when did you discovered that education standards have gone down? Is it during your time as deputy minister of education or when you exited from office? Even during your time when Ghanaians were paying fees, how was the quality like? Please give us a break but during your time it was worse.
These 1diots are always in a hurry to talk so they forget to think. The graduates have been schooling for the past 3years. Free SHS is barely a year old so where is he correlation? Ablakwa's teeth is God sent. He and his NDC are sick in the head.