Municipal Chief Executive says free education is not possible

Mr. Henry Kweku Hayfron, Municipal Chief Executive for Mfantseman, has said it would not be possible for any government to make senior high school education free because of the huge cost involved.

He told the GNA in an interview that the nation learnt a big lesson when the duration of senior high school was raised from three to four years because the government had to grapple with problems of inadequate dormitories and classrooms.

The Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says he will make senior high school education free in the 2013/2014 academic year if voted to power.

Mr. Hayfron said what would make Nana Akufo-Addo’s free senior high school education impossible to implement is his promise to feed day students in addition to those in the boarding house.

He said the School Feeding Programme was introduced by the former NPP government and as at now only 1,347,394 children are benefitting from it, which is less than one-fourth of children going to school, five years after the introduction of the programme.

Mr. Hayfron said it is clear that the country does not have the resources to roll out free education in senior high schools, taking into account infrastructure in schools and the cost it would entail.