NDC?s ?Mission Impossible?

Hon. Tetteh Kpodar, Member of Parliament (MP) for Awutu-Senya-Bereku, has made it categorically clear that if the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) came to power in January 2005, it would not pursue a policy of full cost recovery in the tertiary institutions.

In the view of the party, in the present social circumstances such a policy would not be practicable. She added that brilliant students would be given some bursary and special incentives offered those who are pursuing science and technology course.

The MP said these when addressing media practitioners at an NDC Manifesto Review Session at the Kama Conference Centre, Osu, Accra last Thursday.

On education in general, Hon Tetteh Kpodar maintained that the NDC considers it (education) to be a right and not a privilege. He recalled that the party introduced the Educational Reform Programme in 1998 but it was beset with problems.

According to her, had been lack of institutional support mechanisms. ?We don?t have enough physical infrastructure and equipment: we don?t have the needed manpower support by way of teachers and administrators of the programme across the board?, she indicated. She said an NDC government would make a great deal of efforts in ensuring that the manpower support was available to ensure a better education population.

An NDC government, she said, would study the report of the NPP government?s Education Reform Review Committee and confer extensively on new modalities and initiatives necessary to remove the problem areas that had hampered the implementation of the programme.

Hon. Kpodar underscored that the GETFund as well as available resources would be sued on education so that the problem that they had identified could be dealt with. She said there was the need to provide additional incentives to teachers in the rural communities by providing them with housing facilities, adding that a Teachers? Council would be established to have an oversight responsibility for teacher training institutions, the coordination of the training of teachers and proper placement within the educational system