Second Lady’s comments insensitive — NPP
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has criticised the Second Lady, Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur, describing the comments she made at Kukurantumi over the provision of educational materials as “insensitive.”
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Mrs Amissah-Arthur chastised the head of a public school at Kukurantumi, accusing her of making unnecessary requests from the government.
According to the Second Lady, the provision of the school uniforms is “not by force” and that the teachers have been “spoilt” with the provision of free goodies.
She argued that because the government had taken it upon itself to provide items such as school uniforms, free lunch and sandals for pupils, parents and teachers were shirking their responsibilities.
“I think we have over-pampered you people. Because we have provided free school uniforms so parents don’t even want to buy basic things for their children,” she complained.
The Second Lady’s outburst followed a request made by the headmistress of Kukurantumi Presby Primary School, Juliet Oppong, to the government to, among other things, provide her school with chalks after the Second Lady had presented five computers to the school.
“This is the most insensitive statement from a Second Lady and it is unacceptable, and on behalf of the good people of Ghana, the NPP would like to urge her to bring some dignity to the office she occupies and use the same platform to apologise to Ghanaians, particularly the prominent chiefs and people of Kukurantumi,” the National Women’s Organiser of the opposition NPP, Madam Otiko Djaba, stated.
In the signed statement, Madam Djaba called on the Second Lady to apologise for her comment, saying: “Ghanaians deserve the greatest of respect. We deserve better.”
She stated that: “We do not want to believe that the Second Lady is ignorant of the plight of our schools and teachers across the country.
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“We need to get serious in this country about our priorities, especially our children and their education.
“These misplaced priorities and insensitive statements are a hindrance to the transformation of our society.
“The budget for the Ministry of Education is one of the biggest and it is so shameful and unacceptable that chalk should be in short supply or unavailable in any school.
“Unlike government officials, teachers do not take sitting allowances, they do not serve on Boards to get extra income, they buy their own fuel, and they solely depend on their ‘small’ salaries to keep their families together."
Otiko Djaba added that the NPP believed in the provision of free and quality education, “with the teacher at the centre to develop an efficient human resource for the transformation of our country.”
She explained that: “To achieve this, it is the priority of the government to ensure that basic educational materials, including chalk, are provided constantly to schools to ensure that teachers have the tools and enabling environment to teach.”