A former Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and a current Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, last Thursday were engaged in a banter as to whether the free senior high school (SHS) education policy was a failure or a success.
Contributing to the debate on the 2018 budget and economic policy, Mr Ablakwa, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, said the implementation of the Free SHS policy had been haphazard so far.
For instance, he said, because of the huge numbers, students were forced to have classes in dormitories and under trees.
He said some of the students sat on blocks and anything they could find because there were no furniture.
Mr Ablakwa referred to media reports, which quoted prominent Ghanaians as indicating that the policy was facing challenges.
Mr Ablakwa said the government had a lot of arrears to clear at the schools.
Counter arguments
Dr Adutwum, denied that the Free SHS policy was facing serious challenges.
He said the policy was a bold one being implemented by a visionary President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Dr Adutwum, who is the MP for Bosomtwe, said a lot of parents could not afford the fees which could prevent their children from accessing senior high school education.
He explained that the idea behind the policy was to offer all school-going children access to senior high school for free.
Dr Adutwum said the government had released money to the schools for the implementation of the Free SHS policy education.
He said the government was committed to releasing the outstanding amount to the schools.
Earlier suspension
The Speaker, Professor Mike Oquaye, suspended sitting for an hour following the insistence of the Minority Leader to be allowed to speak on an issue.
As soon as the Speaker asked the MP for Ellembelle, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, to begin a debate on the budget, the Deputy Minority Whip, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, rose to his feet, which implied that he wanted to raise a point.
But the Speaker asked Mr Buah to go ahead with his contribution. Thereafter, the Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, also rose to his feet.
Mr Buah then pleaded with the Speaker to listen to the leaders first since he could not be speaking while his leaders were up.
But the Speaker did not call the two minority leaders to raise their issues.
The Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, also took to his feet to make a comment.
The Speaker announced the suspension of sitting for one hour.
Thereafter, the leadership of the House went to have a meeting with the Speaker.
When sitting resumed, the Speaker gave Mr Ahmed the opportunity to make his point.
Mr Ahmed said he had gathered that the Legislative Instrument (LI) for the creation of Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts, which was laid in Parliament last week, had been brought for some corrections to be effected.
He said per the law, once the LI had been brought for correction, the counting for the 21 sitting days for the maturation of the LI would have started when the corrected version returned to the House.
But Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the information would be investigated and acted upon.
Prof. Oquaye said the House came with an agenda for the day.
Therefore, it was important not to allow matters that had not been listed to disrupt the agenda, saying, "we have to be careful not to disrupt it."
Therefore, he said, he did not want members to rise to interrupt or spring surprises.
Source: Daily Graphic
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The NDC is a curse on Ghana Ghana made a mistake ever voting for these Clowns Greedy Loot and Share people
We hate ndc because ndc hate Ghana. Ghana will leave ndc behind and move forward, ndc is anti- Ghana unpatriotic, hateful and healo*s party that has nothing good for the country, ndc came to create, l00000t and share Ghana's resources and they insult Ghanaians that we are ***barred word*** to bring them back but i tell them if their diehard footsoldiers are f0000ls Ghanaians are discerning we haven't changed a bit and will show ndc and their ***barred word*** leader that Ghana needs leaders with wisfom and vision not idi*ts who think of their stomach so think power is the way to get rich. John mahama will be rejected the second time even more than 2016. The bad of the NPP is the best of the ndc and the evil of the NPP is the angel of the ndc so ndc is no option and Ghanaians will give the NPP 50 years to rule to make our country a better place to live. Ndc can walk from Tarkwa to Bole Bamboi it won't make any difference, their so called health and reconciliation walk is rather seperating them apart.Hahahahahahahahaha! Abodam ! post defeat depression. Hahahahahahehehehehe!
The NDC will wallow in opposition for a long time because if their lack of vision Ghana is working again Never again these Clueless, Incompetent, Greedy, Corrupt Bastards of an NDC party