Nana Addo's Free SHS Policy Is A Fanciful Idea Just Like His �Trotro� Boarding Antic

A leading member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has rubbished the feasibility of the much touted policy being spearheaded by NPP Presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo to make education in Ghana to the Senior High School (SHS) level free saying it is simply a fanciful idea aimed at deceiving the electorate just like his recent �trotro� boarding antic. Murtala Ibrahim Mohammed, the Deputy National Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme [NYEP] has therefore dared the NPP leader to come out with detailed specifics as to how he would go about implementing his much hyped free SHS Policy. Nana Addo surprised many last September when he jumped onto one of the commercial mini-buses popularly known as 'trotro' plying the Kaneshie-Circle route in Accra. He joined the trotro from Kaneshie First Light to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, in Accra, and then continued to the Police Headquarters area as he engaged his colleague passengers in a chitchat to have first-hand information on the concerns of the ordinary Ghanaian. The NPP Presidential candidate, in 2008, made a �Sacred Promise" by repeatedly and consistently promising Ghanaians that if elected as the president, he will be at the forefront of an ambitious move to make education in Ghana to the Senior Secondary School level free. His critics, especially the governing NDC, have raised red flags about this promise saying it is unattainable. His critics deem it as a mere ambition which cannot be achieved under the country�s current state and the resources needed for such a vision, too colossal to be reached. The NPP leader has however maintained on several platforms that his policy is feasibile and would depend on the oil revenue to utilize it. He also recently revealed that the policy will cost about $150million for the first year and a $400million for the next four years. With tuition fee already taken by the current education policy, Nana Addo says the estimated amount will be for payment of boarding and lodging for the students as well as the expansion of infrastructure in the various public schools across the country. By the policy, Basic Education will now be extended to the SHS level and be made free. This means graduates of the JHS level will seamlessly proceed to the SHS, as its being done from the primary level to the JHS level at the moment. But speaking on Okay FM�s �Ghana Decides� Political program, which airs every weekday between the hours of 1pm and 3:00pm, Murtala Mohammed, who is also the NDCs Parliamentary candidate for Nanton Constituency in the Northern Region, rubbished the feasibility of the free SHS policy. According to him, till date the NPP has failed to state which aspect of the education policy will be free, stressing that Nana Addo's policy is just an open statement which requires explanation. �You don�t need any body to tell you that this was a fanciful idea directed to deceive the people just like the �trotro� boarding (antic). It is not possible and implementable�You haven�t taken into consideration that once you make it free, many people would want to access it�if I have never been to school and you want to make it free, I would (definitely) want to go. If education is made free and the number is increased, you would need more teacher training colleges because you expect trained teachers to teach the pupils. This thing hasn�t been taken into consideration and that is another challenge,� Murtala said.