Free senior high school: Essential but not sustainable!

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• Sam 8 years ago

  Very solid argument. We need to focus on career and technical education. We need Job for the teaming unemployed graduates.

  Very solid argument. We need to focus on career and technical education. We need Job for the teaming unemployed graduates.

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• Kojo T 8 years ago

  We need to put politics aside and THINK> Agriculture is the backbone and is lagging and those funds could be used there. Fighting galamsey and protecting the environment , forests farmlands and water ...
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  We need to put politics aside and THINK> Agriculture is the backbone and is lagging and those funds could be used there. Fighting galamsey and protecting the environment , forests farmlands and water bodies and ICT in many areas to curb corrupiton .Lets move away form borrow, consume borrow , consume to wealth creation

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• Esi 8 years ago

  Dear author,
  
  Your piece is one of the better ones I have read on this site, with good analysis and data to back your points.
  
  I largely agree with you that free SHS is not sustainable. I question why government promised ...
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  Dear author,
  
  Your piece is one of the better ones I have read on this site, with good analysis and data to back your points.
  
  I largely agree with you that free SHS is not sustainable. I question why government promised this policy without thinking about ways to fund it. The fact that there are conflicting reports about the funds for this populist policy likely means no plans were put in place when the promise was made; neither was it thought through thorougly.
  
  I believe the country would be better off if the policy was targeted to those who need it the most. Also, a large number of religious secondary institutions which are now under the GES should be returned to the religious institutions to ran. They have done a far better job with secondary schools than the schools have performed under GES.

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• Kwobia 8 years ago

  Trouble is,the negative mindset of some Ghanains.Govt. money is public money,and they also want to chop,and to hell with sustainability.

  Trouble is,the negative mindset of some Ghanains.Govt. money is public money,and they also want to chop,and to hell with sustainability.

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• RASPUTIN 8 years ago

  Kwobia, it is the negative mindset that is the worry not sustainability. As Nana Akomea explained on a program on JoyFM ( Ayenini - Host), It is all about a governments priorities. If we all believe Free SHS is a major nation ...
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  Kwobia, it is the negative mindset that is the worry not sustainability. As Nana Akomea explained on a program on JoyFM ( Ayenini - Host), It is all about a governments priorities. If we all believe Free SHS is a major national strategic investment for our economic growth, then we must order our spending priorities to sustain that program.
  I find the argument that because graduate and youth unemployment is a challenge we must ration free SHS education as very short sighted and intellectually dishonest. I disagree with the notion that because government has provided you with free SHS education, then government must provide you a job? The role of government is to create an environment of opportunity platforms - education, economic and security for individual adult actions and choices. One's country is not the only place to sells one's labor? The accountability must accrue to one's actions and choices. There are not so many white collar jobs to go around. The jobs are in agricultural production, shelter, clothing, education and health industrial complexes. All governments can do is to provide opportunities for individual pursuits. It was university dropouts in their twenties in America that have created the world wide boom of multi million jobs in software ( Think: Microsoft, Google, Facebook, twitter,etc ) !!!!

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• Cephas 8 years ago

  For your information, the much talked about free SHS up north has not existed since the 1970s when Busia cancelled it. SHS in the north pay fees. It is only their feeding that is catered for by the state by way of grant. This ...
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  For your information, the much talked about free SHS up north has not existed since the 1970s when Busia cancelled it. SHS in the north pay fees. It is only their feeding that is catered for by the state by way of grant. This is not different from the current arrangement in nurses and teacher colleges where trainee students are fed by the state and even paid allowances on top. Would you therefore say there is free college education in Ghana as a result their free feeding policy?

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• Joe Pee 8 years ago

  The writer said to a very large extent.

  The writer said to a very large extent.

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• Kojo T. 8 years ago

  A lot of southerners are deliberately creating the false impression that northerners do not pay school fees. Even in the Nkrumah era the local councils financed students from their various Areas by taxing their communities. ...
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  A lot of southerners are deliberately creating the false impression that northerners do not pay school fees. Even in the Nkrumah era the local councils financed students from their various Areas by taxing their communities. Every student from the community is taken care of whether you are northerner or southerner as long as you are part of the community. This arrangement helped the northerners to catch up on education to some extent. Busia who was helped by the northerners to lead the opposition later turned round to stab the north in the back and canceled scholarships for northerners in the universities which was put in place by the British to lure the north to support the independence of Ghana.

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• DIASPOREAN 8 years ago

  Nana Yaw Osei, an old Jewish friend once told me when I asked him to explain to me the secret of Jewish wealth: He said " money is used to buy things. It takes a positive attitude and can do spirit to accumulate wealth, or to ...
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  Nana Yaw Osei, an old Jewish friend once told me when I asked him to explain to me the secret of Jewish wealth: He said " money is used to buy things. It takes a positive attitude and can do spirit to accumulate wealth, or to achieve anything in life". Then he added how one thinks is everything regarding success achievment. And he believes his tribe look at life differently than other tribes. Those who burden initiatives with doubts never achieve them.
  Mr. Osei you have provided analysis of why you think Free SHS is unsustainable but if you think Free SHS is essential, what is your solution options to make it sustainable? !
  Back to my Jewish friend. How is that a challenged tribe went and settled in a desert and yet developed a vibrant agricultural system that exports to Europe and America ? Answer: They came out with innovations like drip irrigation system, Can one village one dam give us year round agriculture in the northern Ghana for example as Burkina Faso does? The Israelis have developed some of the most innovative technologies in electronics and medicine. The Singaporeans at independence had only a strategic harbor and a lot of human capital. They educated their citizens and initiated economic policies that have made them a miracle city State. Their Sovereign Fund is bigger than Ghana's GDP, yet we were at the same economic level 60 years ago? And there is South Korea who improvised the Japanese economic system, educated their citizens to the highest level and have achieved economic success!
  And on a personal level, there are those of us in diaspora like yourself who ended up in the USA and had to work to attend University and achieved have economic success (wealth) beyond our wildest dreams?
  If we had thought about money, we would have said our educational ambition was essential but unsustainable ? But we did what we had to do to complete our post SHS educational goals !
  Nana Yaw Osei, it is all about how one thinks. If we think it is essential, then it can be sustainable, if that is our priority !! That is the formula for wealth creation which is what education is all about.

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• Aaron 8 years ago

  Yes Ghana is populated by very dishonest lazy greedy and unpatriotic people whose agenda is to their ethnic group first second his personal wealth and lastly the state of Ghana. For example an Ashanti is more loyal to the gol ...
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  Yes Ghana is populated by very dishonest lazy greedy and unpatriotic people whose agenda is to their ethnic group first second his personal wealth and lastly the state of Ghana. For example an Ashanti is more loyal to the golden stool than to the State of Ghana.He is suspicious of other ethnic groups. The same is applicable to other groups. So who is a Ghanaian?

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• TRUTH STANDS 8 years ago

  Education is not entirely free in the north. The government as on records, gives feeding grant to schools in the north and some part of Brong Ahafo and Northern Volta

  Education is not entirely free in the north. The government as on records, gives feeding grant to schools in the north and some part of Brong Ahafo and Northern Volta

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• Opoku Kwarteng Isaac 8 years ago

  so very true brother. until we focus on Technical/Vocational training, unemployment will still increase. NDC said this but Ghanaians said no. we live to see. God have mercy on Ghana

  so very true brother. until we focus on Technical/Vocational training, unemployment will still increase. NDC said this but Ghanaians said no. we live to see. God have mercy on Ghana

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• Hermes 8 years ago

  You have the understanding heart .Nana and bawumia are short sighted and full of lies

  You have the understanding heart .Nana and bawumia are short sighted and full of lies

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• Kuma 8 years ago

  The best piece I've read so far. Because this gov't want to look good in the eyes of the Ghanaians she's struggling to fulfill the unattainable promise that will leave Ghanaians disappointed in the years to come. Our universi ...
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  The best piece I've read so far. Because this gov't want to look good in the eyes of the Ghanaians she's struggling to fulfill the unattainable promise that will leave Ghanaians disappointed in the years to come. Our university students are still reading theories and not practical and all these are increasing problems that the gov't is ignoring. Create more jobs for the graduates and they will pay school bills.

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• ss villa 8 years ago

  Thank for your opinion: free SHS will not make Ghana better and Ghanaians must be cautious about this unsustainable policy born out of NPP campaign promise. Logical sources of funding is silent and this policy has a high ten ...
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  Thank for your opinion: free SHS will not make Ghana better and Ghanaians must be cautious about this unsustainable policy born out of NPP campaign promise. Logical sources of funding is silent and this policy has a high tendency to stagnate education in Ghana. How many people in government sent their children to public SHS? Why??

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