The opposition National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) John Dramani Mahama has reemphasised his resolve to addressing the challenges facing the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, should he be elected President in the upcoming elections.
The NDC flag bearer says he will undertake a stakeholder consultation on education to assemble the best minds there is in the sector, to dissect the challenges bedeviling education in the country and proffer solutions to them.
This comes on the back of the teeming challenges confronting the programme regarding funding and implementation.
He says the meeting will also take into account, the challenges with the entire education sector to reposition the execution of educational policies at a better pedestal.
John Mahama was speaking with representatives from various teacher unions, including the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, when he relayed his intention.
“Within the first 100 days of me becoming president, we will hold a stakeholder dialogue on education. It will have as part of its focus the implementational bottlenecks of the Free SHS, but it is also going to deal with how we can improve financing and teaching and learning at the basic school level and so at that stakeholder’s engagement, NAGRAT, GNAT, parents, students, educational experts, everybody is going to be there and we are going to have a discussion on access, on equity, on affordability, and on financing our educational system,” he noted.
At the said meeting, John Mahama also expressed his intentions to revitalise the Parent Teacher Associations in the various schools whose powers were weakened by the introduction of the Free SHS.
“Currently the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) especially at the SHS level have been rendered very weak, dysfunctional and ineffective. We believe that PTA are a vehicle for community and stakeholder participation in the work of the schools. If you look into the whole world, we are moving towards parents having a say in the administration of the school. Instead, the implementation of the Free SHS has weakened the PTAs and move them out from taking part in the work of the schools.
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