'Akufo-Addo could’ve used 18 months to complete Mahama’s 200 schools' – Ablakwa

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Okudzeto Ablakwah, says the sole cause of desperation on the part of the president to introduce a double-track system can be attributed to poor planning.

He contends that the president has been in office for 18 months and his government could have completed President Mahama’s 200 additional second cycle schools.

“If the president had been sworn in January or February this year, I wouldn’t have blamed him… but he has been in the helm of affairs for 18 months…” he said.

“… the NPP government could have used its 18 months in office to complete the 200 school projects that we started”. This he said, can help solve the current congestion problems.

According to the former Deputy Minister, the Akufo-Addo administration should have known better because the NPP were bent on implementing free SHS which has been their major campaign promise since 2008.

Speaking on Accra based Asempa FM Thursday, he noted that every year, the number of students who gain admission into second cycle schools increases even prior to the implementation of free SHS.

He said in the NPP’s resolve to implement a social intervention programme like Free SHS, they should have been proactive.

Mr. Ablakwa said the hasty implementation of the policy is also a major contributing factor to the increased number of students in the second cycle institution.

According to her, the economy of the country is not financially buoyant to ensure the smooth implementation of the programme. He said, “in the wisdom of the framers of the constitution, they thought that in the implementation of free education, it has to be very gradual and very calculated in order not to compromise quality”.

“When you read the constitution, the framers of the constitution were so bold in stipulating that at the basic level, education must be free and compulsory…because they knew that the economy was ready for it.