A Senior Lecturer at the Accra Technical University has downplayed President Akufo-Addo’s hint of a possible foray into free tertiary education in Ghana and has described it as wishful thinking.
Dr. Daniel Osabutey says the President’s recent revelation that free tertiary education is not off the government’s table is “just a statement of optimism going forward….But I don’t see it to be happening anytime soon.”
According to him, a move in that direction would be reckless considering the state of the country’s Basic Education.
“When you look at our secondary education we have lots of challenges. We lack infrastructure and facilities, we have inadequate teachers and you know them all. One would’ve thought that all this would’ve been fixed before the promise of free tertiary education. It is good to dream big but I believe we have to solve the problem at the basic level first,” he told e-TV’s Samuel Eshun.
President Akufo-Addo recently said at the Global Education Summit in the UK that Government is considering free tertiary education following a supposed successful implementation of Free SHS.
The Summit was co-hosted by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, in London
The program, he said, has resulted in some 400,000 more children getting access to SHS education in the country, with the government addressing the infrastructure challenges that came with the policy.
“So in Ghana, we’ve taken the decision that we’re going full scale ahead, now that we have widened public education at the secondary school level for all and sundry, to try and replicate it at the tertiary level too,” he said
But Dr. Osabutey warns Free SHS is not really a success as the President has touted. “The free concept should also be restricted to day schools. If you want your child to go to boarding school, pay for the difference between the day and boarding school.”
According to him the assessment of these recommendations, and how effective they are with the free SHS can then be replicated on the free tertiary education for its success.