All children must have access to quality education
Article 25 of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that all persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities.
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Section (a) of that article further states that basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all, while (b) adds that secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education.
This article, therefore, means that there should not be any hindrance to education from the basic to the secondary level for any Ghanaian child of school age, and this may have informed the strong commitment of the government to implement the free senior high school (SHS) education policy.
No doubt, the decision by the government is generally considered a step in the right direction, even though some Ghanaians have their own reservations.
It is refreshing that the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, keeps reassuring Ghanaians that the policy will not focus on quantity to the detriment of quality.
Indeed, that has been the concern of many, including the Catholic Bishop of Sunyani, the Most Rev. Matthew Gyamfi, who has cautioned against sacrificing quality for quantity.
He is quoted as saying that even though the policy is a laudable idea that will make many young people to be included in SHS education, it should never be on the principle of: ‘This is the best we are capable of giving you; take it or leave it’.
The fear of the man of God may be premised on revelations by Dr Prempeh at the 24th annual Conference of Directors of Education (CODE) at Abesim in the Brong Ahafo Region that only 30 per cent of our SHS graduates obtain grades that are sufficient to gain them admission to our tertiary institutions, describing this as “scandalous” and “unacceptable”.
The Daily Graphic thinks that steps to address the challenges are urgently needed to reassure Ghanaians that with the mass movement from the basic to the secondary level almost unimpeded, the products will continue to be comparable to their counterparts in the sub-region who also write the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
We appreciate the concerns of all well-meaning Ghanaians over the ability of the state to foot the bill of free education, but we wish to say that for now, let us be optimistic that the government has the means to implement the policy.
The Daily Graphic urges the government to prove the skeptics wrong by rolling out a problem-free policy, come next academic year.
We are also happy that the government is not leaving the teacher out of the scheme to promote accessible and equitable education for all children in the country.
