Mahama's free tertiary education promise mere 'noise-making' - Allotey Jacobs

Bernard Allotey Jacobs has taken a swipe at former President John Mahama over his promise to fine-tune Ghana's education sector.

In an engagement with the youth during the launch of the Youth Manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama said Akufo-Addo's Free SHS policy has, over the years, been saddled with challenges due to inadequate infrastructure, funding, and lack of motivation for teaching and non-teaching staff.

Speaking at the auditorium of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, on Monday, August 12, Mr. Mahama proffered his solutions, saying, “We shall decentralize the procurement of food and other supplies to the headmaster's school basis in order to improve the quality of food and also boost the local economies in the districts where the schools are located."

He added, "We shall expand access by building more infrastructure in existing secondary schools, and we shall dedicate funding to completing the E-blocks so that more children can have the opportunity to go to school.”

Reacting to this manifesto during Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' panel discussion programme, the former NDC Central Regional Chairman, Allotey Jacobs, doubted Mahama would commit to his promises to cancel the Free SHS double-track system, provide free tertiary education, and ensure a fluid student loan payment, among others, if elected President again.

To him, all these proposals by John Mahama are nothing but "an afterthought, something that can engineer noise-making."