This is centered on his “HEAL Kwesimintsim” initiative.

His vision, named “The New Kwesimintsim Dream” (NKD), focuses on building a thriving and empowered community with progress and prosperity accessible to every resident.

The HEAL Kwesimintsim Programme is built on four core pillars: Health, infrastructure, and social services; education and training; agriculture, entrepreneurship, and jobs; and leadership and governance.

As part of this roadmap, Dr. Armah recently donated a modern theatre bed to the Kwesimintsim Hospital, replacing a nearly 50-year-old surgical bed, and provided medical equipment to local CHPS compounds to boost healthcare accessibility along several other initiatives.

Dr. Armah’s vision for Kwesimintsim prioritizes community well-being and sustainable development to foster a prosperous future where every resident benefits from the constituency’s growth and opportunities.

Find the full document below:

Source: Adomonline

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At the second edition of the CEOs’ Breakfast Meeting hosted by the Engineering Council, the Deputy Minister the need to create an enabling environment for the over 2,000 Engineering graduates produced annually by Universities in the country.

Addressing a gathering of top industry executives, the Minister highlighted the theme “Engineering Excellence for National Development: A Collective Responsibility” as a call to action for stakeholders to prioritize engineering as a key driver of Ghana’s progress.

He noted that, the pivotal role of the Engineering Council in maintaining rigorous standards and promoting professional development.

He urged collaboration between government, industry, and academia to foster innovation, sustainable solutions, and infrastructure development.

The Minister called on all stakeholders to support the Council’s regulatory mandate to ensure Ghana’s engineering landscape meets global standards, driving investor confidence and national prosperity.

He further urged concluded with a commitment to further discussions on promoting engineering excellence in Ghana.

Source: Adomonline

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The platform, rentcontrol.mwh.gov.gh, will allow both landlords and tenants to handle crucial tasks online, such as registering properties, filing complaints and resolving disputes without visiting the Rent Control offices in person.

One of the platform’s key features is its ability to facilitate the digital signing of tenancy agreements, streamlining rental processes and eliminating the need for physical paperwork, which will not only save time but also ensure more secure and transparent record-keeping.

Additionally, the platform will advertise available rental properties online, making it easier for tenants to find accommodation without intermediaries such as agents.

Commitment

The Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Dr Prince Hamid Armah, who spoke at yesterday’s launch, said the digital platform was a testament to commitment to efficiency, transparency and inclusivity.

“Today, we celebrate more than just a technological advancement; we are inaugurating a transformative leap in how public services are delivered in Ghana,” Dr Armah stated.

Furthermore, he said his outfit was committed to extending these benefits to all regions of Ghana, positioning the country as a leader in public service innovation across Africa.

“The launch of rentcontrol.mwh.gov.gh represents a new chapter for Ghana’s rental market, promising a more streamlined, transparent and accessible service for all,” Mr Ampofo said.

Convenience

The deputy minister said the digital platform, powered by a partnership with SuperTech Limited, was now operational in 15 offices across 11 regions.

“This digital transformation is about more than convenience, It’s about levelling the playing field for all Ghanaians regardless of their geographical location or socio-economic status. We are ensuring that everyone has equal access to fair and efficient rental services,” Dr Armah stated.

The Chief Rent Manager, Twum Ampofo, described the initiative as a transformative step forward.

“This is a defining moment for the Rent Control Department. We have long been burdened by manual processes that caused delays and frustrations for the public. With this digital platform, we are finally providing the efficiency and accessibility that Ghanaians deserve,” he said.

The goal is to reduce the need for in-person visits, making the system more accessible, particularly for people living in remote areas.

“Our department has always been committed to ensuring peaceful coexistence between landlords and tenants, and this tool will help us do that more effectively.

“We can now reach Ghanaians no matter where they are, without them having to travel long distances to access our services,” Mr Ampofo said.

Embrace

Consequently, Mr Ampofo called on the public to embrace the new system.

“This platform is not just about technology; it’s about making rental services fairer, more efficient, and accessible to all Ghanaians. We are confident that it will make a significant difference in how rental services are experienced in this country.”

Confidence

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Rev. Stephen Yaw Osei, emphasised the importance of bridging the gap between the department and the communities it served, noting that the platform would ensure compliance with rental regulations and enhance transparency.

He further expressed confidence that the platform would curb exploitation by landlords, provide faster reconciliation of disputes and easier access to information.

“This project is not just about embracing technology; it’s about building a more responsive, accessible and transparent system for all. We encourage everyone to explore this new system and provide feedback as we continue to improve,” he added.

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This foundation is the reason I taught Research Methods during my time at the university, both full-time and part-time, and why I have led several research components for projects funded by prestigious international organisations such as The World Bank and the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.

While I am currently preparing a comprehensive paper critiquing the recent works of Global InfoAnalytics, I want to highlight a crucial issue in their approach. As a practitioner with a firm grounding in the real number system—encompassing whole numbers, natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, and irrational numbers—I understand the importance of carefully linking the empirical world (what we observe with our senses) to the abstract world of numbers. This connection must be made cautiously to avoid misleading the public and readers.

Global InfoAnalytics’ recent work, which seeks to represent feelings, opinions, and perceptions through numerical values, presents a key flaw. When a poll or survey includes as much as 87% of respondents who are undecided or neutral, it raises significant red flags. Such a high level of neutrality not only has the potential to skew the results but also severely undermines the reliability of the findings. This degree of ambivalence often signals deeper issues, such as unclear questions, lack of engagement from respondents, or the failure of the survey instrument to elicit strong opinions.

From a methodological standpoint, this undermines the integrity of the data. In social research, neutrality at this level suggests confusion or indifference among the sample population. More importantly, it could point to flaws in how the research is designed—whether the questions lack clarity, the topic is poorly framed, or the respondent pool is not adequately representative.

Before one can confidently present findings that generalise to a broader population, these issues must be rigorously addressed. Global InfoAnalytics’ failure to account for such a significant portion of neutral responses raises concerns about the validity of their conclusions. I would urge them, and others interpreting their findings, to carefully reassess the data, scrutinise the survey design, and investigate the respondent demographics before making any broad claims.

Thus, those who feel favoured by this research should not celebrate just yet, and those against the findings should not be disturbed. The data is far from conclusive, and the significant presence of undecided respondents suggests that the conclusions drawn from this poll should be treated with caution. Further refinement and analysis are necessary to ensure that the results accurately reflect the opinions of the population.

Policy Recommendations: Legal Regulation or Voluntary Association

To prevent the public from being misled by flawed polling practices, there are two potential policy options that could foster transparency and accountability in the polling ecosystem.

1. Legal Regulation and Oversight: One option would be to establish a formal regulatory framework, where a government or independent body oversees the activities of polling organisations. This body could enforce legal standards for the design and implementation of opinion polls, ensuring that polls adhere to strict methodological guidelines. The creation of such a regulatory body would help protect the integrity of public opinion data and prevent organisations from presenting skewed or unreliable results. This approach mirrors best practices in several developed countries where polling standards are legally mandated and closely monitored.

2. Voluntary Association and Peer Review: Alternatively, polling companies could come together to form a ‘National Polling Council’ as a voluntary association. This council would function as a self-regulatory community of practice where member organisations engage in peer review, share best practices, and hold each other accountable. The purpose of this council would be to foster transparency, uphold rigorous methodological standards, and encourage ethical conduct in polling. By voluntarily participating in such an association, polling companies could build trust with the public and policymakers, ensuring that the data they produce is reliable and credible. This approach allows the industry to regulate itself through collaboration and shared responsibility, stimulating continuous improvements in the quality of polling.

Both approaches—legal regulation or voluntary association—have their merits. Legal regulation would provide enforceable standards and ensure that all polling organisations meet a minimum threshold of quality and transparency. On the other hand, a voluntary association would promote industry collaboration, encouraging organisations to strive for higher standards through peer accountability and shared expertise.

In research, especially where public perceptions and opinions are quantified, precision and transparency are essential. Whichever path is chosen, the goal remains the same: to ensure that the data used to inform public discourse and policymaking is accurate, transparent, and methodologically sound. ‎

Source: Prince Hamid Armah, PhD

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He explained that, secondary education is crucial for improving a young person’s life opportunities and for transitioning to tertiary education and the workforce.

Dr Armah noted that, the NPP views secondary education as a fundamental foundation for everyone. He added that before the NPP came into office, the transition rate from Junior Secondary School to Secondary School was very low.

Speaking on JoyNews AM show, Dr Armah said, “You had not more than 60% of our young people finishing Junior Secondary School and being able to access Senior Secondary School.”

“Each year, almost 100,000 young people who finish BECE are unable to go to secondary school. If you go back 10 years, there would be about 1 million children in a generation who never had the opportunity to attend secondary school due to various reasons, including financial barriers and policy issues. So, it is a very big achievement.”

Dr Armah said the expansion has also positively affected tertiary education enrolment.

He said that when the NPP came to office, tertiary enrolment was about 430,000 and has now increased to around 700,000, nearly doubling the previous number.

“The impact this will have on the economy is enormous. When the human resource capacity of your country improves, you will appreciate its effect on various sectors of the economy.”

This, he explained, will ensure the children have a solid foundation in education.

Dr. Armah emphasised that while the Ghana’s Constitution highlights compulsory education for children, it does not criminalize non-compliance.

To address this, he proposed leveraging the National Identification Authority (NIA) together with the Birth and Death Registry, to gather and manage data on children to ensure successful enforcement of the policy.

He explained that, through these institutions, parents of children nearing the age of four would be notified in advance to facilitate timely enrolment.

“If we want to make education compulsory, we must ensure children attend school. We have designed technology for this. The National Identification Authority already provides identification numbers to babies, and the Birth and Death Registry operates at the district level,” Dr. Armah stated.

“With all this data, it becomes easier for the District Education oversight committees, in collaboration with Assembly members, to identify children turning four and enforce compulsory enrollment. Although the current Pre-Tertiary Education Act doesn’t criminalize non-enrollment, we are working towards that,” he explained.

Dr. Armah added that, the next NPP government, under the leadership of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is committed to improving every kindergarten (KG) in the country.

He said they plan to construct ultra-modern KG blocks in areas that currently lack them, recognizing the importance of early childhood education as the foundation for future learning.

“Our goal is to ensure that KG blocks in various communities are upgraded with modern equipment and to construct new ones in underserved areas at a very low cost. I believe that with about five hundred thousand Ghana cedis, we can build a quality KG. We are committed to improving KGs because they are the foundation of further learning,” he added.

Source: Ayisha Akua Ibrahim

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Yet, in Ghana, a severe housing deficit continues to pose significant challenges, impacting millions of lives and stifling national development. This article delves into the pressing issue of housing in Ghana, exploring the critical role of the state in mitigating this crisis. It also highlights how addressing housing challenges is integral to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring that no one is left behind. Through an examination of government initiatives and future directions, this piece aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the state’s efforts and the broader implications for sustainable development.

The Current State of Housing in Ghana

Ghana’s housing deficit stands at an alarming 1.8 million units, a figure that continues to grow with the country’s rapid urbanization and population increase. The shortage has led to overcrowded living conditions, the proliferation of informal settlements, and inflated housing costs, which further marginalize low and middle-income earners. The housing crisis not only impacts individual well-being but also hinders economic growth and social stability. Addressing this deficit is crucial to achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

Housing has long been a contentious issue, with differing views on whether the state should be involved in its provision. Some argue that the state should not interfere in the housing market, while others contend that the state has a fundamental responsibility to ensure that all citizens have access to decent housing. This paper supports the latter view, positing that the state indeed has a duty to provide housing for its citizens. This responsibility is underscored by the constitutional mandate and the imperative to uphold human dignity. Article 15 of the Constitution of Ghana states that “the dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.” This principle underscores the importance of housing as a fundamental human right. Adequate housing is essential for maintaining human dignity, health, and well-being. It is within this context that the state’s role becomes paramount in ensuring that this basic need is met for all citizens. Providing decent housing contributes directly to SDG 3 by improving health outcomes and promoting well-being.

Government Initiatives and Interventions

Recognizing the urgency of the housing crisis, the government of Ghana, under the leadership of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has initiated several policies aimed at addressing housing challenges. These initiatives are designed to respond to both the demand and supply sides of affordable housing, thereby improving living conditions across the country. These efforts support SDG 11, which emphasizes the need for inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities.

1. National Home Ownership Fund (formerly National Housing and Mortgage Finance Initiative): The National Home Ownership Fund (NHOF)  is a strategic effort to provide affordable housing to low and middle-income earners. The initiative involves partnerships with private banks to construct affordable housing units while offering mortgage and construction financing options that make homeownership more accessible. Additionally, government also introduced the Affordable Housing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that have been supporting Rent-to-Own schemes as part of efforts to increase access to homeownership. These initiatives align with SDG 1 by helping to reduce poverty through increased access to affordable housing.
2. Affordable Housing Project: This project aims to bridge the housing gap by constructing affordable homes nationwide. By utilizing cost-effective building materials and innovative construction techniques, the project seeks to reduce costs without compromising quality, thereby making housing more accessible to a broader segment of the population. This contributes to SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) by promoting sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation.
3. Regulatory Framework: To ensure sustainable housing development, the Ghanaian government has implemented policies to regulate the real estate market. These include incentives for private developers of affordable housing, stricter zoning laws, and measures to prevent speculative practices that inflate prices. The regulatory framework is bolstered by the Real Estate Agency Council (REAC), which oversees real estate transactions, ensures transparency and accountability, licenses agents, and enforces standards to prevent fraud. These efforts support SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by promoting fair and transparent practices in the housing market.
4. National Rent Assistance Scheme (NRAS): Launched to address the challenges faced by renters, the NRAS provides financial assistance to eligible low and middle-income households. The scheme offers support with rent advances, making it easier for individuals and families to secure housing without the burden of large upfront payments. This initiative directly addresses SDG 1 by alleviating the financial strain on low-income households.
5. Community Affordable Housing Initiatives by State Housing Company Limited (SHC): The SHC has undertaken several community-based affordable housing projects, such as the Asokore-Mampong Affordable Housing Project. This project focuses on constructing high-quality, affordable residential units in strategic locations, providing homes to low and middle-income earners. This supports SDG 11 by promoting sustainable urban development.
6. Urban Redevelopment by Tema Development Corporation (TDC): The TDC has been instrumental in Tema’s Community 25 Housing Project. This initiative focuses on developing planned residential estates that include modern amenities and infrastructure, offering affordable housing solutions while ensuring proper urban planning. Similarly, the Company also embarked on several in-filling initiatives in Tema Community 3 as part of efforts to increase access to housing options while optimizing the use of prime land and infrastructure in the acquisition area. These interventions. These interventions align with SDG 11 by ensuring cities are inclusive and sustainable.

Conclusion and the BENCH 2024 Platform

The housing crisis in Ghana presents a significant challenge that requires urgent and sustained government intervention. The state has a critical role to play in ensuring that all citizens have access to decent and affordable housing, as enshrined in the constitution and international human rights frameworks. By prioritizing housing in national development agendas and implementing innovative solutions, the government can create a more equitable society where every individual has the opportunity to live in dignity and security.

Addressing the housing challenges in Ghana is not just a matter of policy but a moral imperative. The state’s active involvement in the housing sector is essential to overcoming the current deficit and ensuring a brighter future for all Ghanaians. Through strategic initiatives, increased investment, and effective regulation, Ghana can move towards a reality where adequate housing is a right enjoyed by every citizen. Furthermore, achieving this goal is integral to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring that no one is left behind in the journey towards sustainable development and human dignity.

The maiden Built Environment National Conference on Housing and Hydrology (BENCHH) offers a unique opportunity to delve deeper into these issues. This conference, set to take place on July 2-4, 2024, at the Labadi Beach Hotel, will bring together policymakers, industry leaders, and stakeholders to discuss and develop actionable strategies for tackling Ghana’s housing and hydrology challenges. By engaging in these discussions, we can collectively share best practices, foster collaboration and drive progress towards sustainable housing solutions that align with the SDGs, ensuring that Ghana’s future generations have access to the homes they need and deserve.

******

The author is the Deputy Minister for Works and Housing and Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim. He previously served as the Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) and consulted for several projects funded by prominent international organisations such as The World Bank, UKAID, USAID, and the UN Education Commission in Ghana.

The former Executive Secretary of National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) confirmed his appointment exclusively interview with Adomonline.com even though the announcement is yet to be made public.

Dr Armah’s appointment forms part of a major reshuffle which is expected to take place today, February 14, 2024.

This follows a meeting held on Friday, February 9, at the Jubilee House where Akufo-Addo reportedly concluded on the names for a reshuffle.

The President is poised to make significant changes to his ministerial appointments after months of public demands.

Originally slated for December, the reshuffle was rescheduled for February following the conclusion of the ruling party’s internal elections to preempt any unsuccessful candidates from attributing their loss to the president.

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In recent times, concerns have been raised regarding the alleged abuse of the human rights of some journalists and other persons thought to be critics of the government. These concerns appear to suggest that the current government is suppressive and intolerant of dissenting views, especially views of the media. If found true, such allegations have the tendency of eroding the gains made toward our Fourth Republican democratic dispensation, and a blot on the achievements of this government. It is in light of the foregoing that I seek to contribute to the discourse, first as a people’s representative, who wishes to see a society, including that of my beloved Kwesimintsim constituency, governed by the Rule of Law, respect for the rights and liberties of citizens; and second, as a public policy advocate who believes in a limited government. As citizens, we give powers to our government in exchange for the protection of our rights. I will thus never support any government including mine which attempts to stifle the rights of citizens in addition to the powers afforded them by the people. That will certainly amount to a serious threat to individual liberty. Having set the foundation of my decision to contribute to the raging debate on this matter, I will proceed to the substantive issues in a manner devoid of any spin doctoring or propaganda.

Firstly, we may want to remind ourselves about the legacy of our President, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in terms of human rights advancement in Ghana. Throughout his public service, he has remained a staunch defendant of human rights, culminating in many landmark cases aptly captured in the Ghana Law Reports in addition to the subsequent repeal from Ghana’s statutes the obnoxious and oppressive Criminal Libel and Seditious Laws during his tenure as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. President Akufo-Addo is undoubtedly a firm believer in and advocate for free speech and a free media, as amplified in one of his speeches captured as the prefatory quotation to this article.

Secondly, it is important to emphasize how the President has continued to assert his human rights legacy by signing into law the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2019 (Act 989) and operationalizing same, which further empowers citizens to demand further insight into public records in order to hold governments to account. Something that the now self-acclaimed defenders of civil rights and liberties failed to do in the eight years when they were in office. It would therefore be quite questionable for any person to suggest that President Akufo-Addo will condone human rights abuses, much less personally sanction it. The facts available only support the assertion that we have a President who is a friend of free speech and will protect it all times.

However, like all fundamental human rights, free speech is regulated by law. The 1992 Constitution provides that fundamental human rights may be curtailed for the preservation of public peace and safety. Human rights cannot be granted unqualifiedly as this will surely lead to disorder and anarchy. People are free to pursue their own lives so long as they respect the equal rights of others. It therefore cannot be the case that citizens should be allowed to use their right of free speech to incite chaos or advocate for the illegal removal of a legitimately elected democratic government. In such a situation where a constitutionally guaranteed right is being utilized to further the commission and or promotion of a crime, the law enforcement agencies are mandated to ensure public order and peace prevail by bringing the accused into custody for questioning within the context of our laws.

Over the past few months, many Ghanaians have been unequivocal in their praise of the new Inspector-General of Police appointed by President Akufo-Addo. The Ghanaian public have, generally, been unanimous in their belief that Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare has restored faith in the police service through proactive policing, although there have been some few excesses and imperfections in their conducts. The police have been commendably proactive in enforcing the law without fear and favour leading to high profile arrests involving government officials, clergymen, celebrities, among others. 

It is in the same vein of proactive policing that some media persons and advocates who are alleged to have abused their right to speech have been brought into custody for questioning to ensure public peace. It would be therefore extremely unfair and almost mischievous of any person to ignore the context and claim that any such arrests of such persons are politically motivated, especially when members of the President’s own ruling party have not been spared when they fall short of the law. 

Let me assure my beloved constituents of Kwesimintsim and fellow citizens and foreigners who are in Ghana to do business with us that this government ably led by a human rights Champion, President Akufo-Addo will never support human rights violations of any form whatsoever, and that free speech is definitely not under threat. However, as citizens, we must be guided at all times by good judgment in the exercise of our rights to free speech in a manner that does not threaten public peace or safety. Our security agencies, particularly the police, must also ensure that in the discharge of their duties, they are guided by the constitutional imperatives of not acting arbitrary, capriciously or biasedly especially in exercising their legal powers of arrest, restriction and detention of accused persons.

The author is the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim Constituency and Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education.

Our greatest and most critical resources are the men and women who lead our industrialisation efforts, turn the wheels of technology and innovation, run our businesses and cater for our physical and mental health needs and all the other constituents of our workforce. No nation has developed without a well-educated and dedicated critical mass of workforce to pursue its developmental aspirations. 

There are many nations who have achieved higher levels of development with only a fraction of Ghana’s natural wealth; they relied on qualified and patriotic citizens to achieve their enviable status. The arc of success of these nations can only provide key lessons for Ghana. If we are to spur economic growth within the context of a globalized knowledge economy, then we will need to grow a capable workforce characterised by creativity and innovation, nationalistic zeal and a sense of moral purpose and duty. A plethora of studies have shown that a well-educated and skilled workforce is indispensable for economic transformation and shared growth. The school curriculum plays a particularly important role in this regard. If you are what you read, you are even more so what you study. The learning experiences we offer our children accounts in large part for what they eventually become. 

Unfortunately, our curriculum appears to have long failed to keep up with the changing times and demands of the moment. For far too long, we had remained tethered to the colonial ideal of producing graduates who are little more than pliant paper pushers. Over the last three decades, our educational system and the school curriculum and assessment in particular, appear to have done little to encourage or foster the kind of curiosity that leads to world-changing innovation. The results of this have been evident for long. In global tests that assess application of knowledge and reasoning, even our best students struggle. Something about our education has been holding our students back and stifling their ability to lead world-beating innovations, life-changing discoveries and wealth-creating ideas. 

In 2016, for instance, the National Education Assessment found more than seventy percent of students struggling to achieve basic competencies in English and mathematics. Similar discernible patterns were observed at the early grade level where less than five percent could read with comprehension as reported in the EGRA/EGMA studies. Earlier on, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study assessments consistently ranked Ghana at the bottom of the global table in Science and Maths. Attempts to uncover the underlying cause of this phenomena produced common findings that included curriculum overload and lack of performance standards to guide teaching and learning. These findings raised important issues for policy makers. Curriculum overload, particularly, leads to poor fidelity of implementation as teachers and schools make their own value judgements about what should and should not be taught in their lessons. 

Against this backdrop, the Nana Akufo-Addo led government, on taking over in 2017, considered the development of a new curriculum as part of a comprehensive school reform agenda that included teacher education reform, school management and accountability, and improved education service delivery in general.  The government, particularly the President, believed that the expanded access to education that it was pursuing, would be fatally compromised if it was not complemented by enhanced relevance and quality of education expressed in the form of curriculum materials. 

There had been previous attempts to revise our school curriculum. None of such attempts however, seemed to have attacked the very core of the problem. None had sought to explicitly answer the question “what kind of Ghanaian do we want walking on our streets a generation from now?” in such a direct and sustained manner as these present reforms do.

In September 2019, after two years of extensive curriculum review process, the government introduced a standards-based curriculum at the kindergarten to primary levels, with emphasise on core and foundational skills such as the four Rs – Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and cReativity – while also nurturing in the children a lifelong passion for learning and discovery.

This was in sharp contrast to the earlier objectivists-based curriculum we have so long relied on.  Developed on the bases of the B. F. Skinners and Edward Thondikes behaviourists learning theories, the objectivists-based curriculum encouraged leaners to demonstrate competence by reciting or regurgitating  concepts; an approach understood in the extant literature as drill and practice. In contrast, with the emphasis on set grade-level expectations, the standards-based curriculum highlights what learners are expected to know, understand and be able to do (with emphases on doing). Textbooks and other instructional resources that align with the expectations of the new curriculum have since been developed, approved and are currently being procured by government to facilitate the reform efforts. 

Reform efforts, however, must be matched at the various levels of education in order for them to achieve the intended policy outcomes. This is why the common core curriculum for lower and upper secondary levels was developed and subsequently approved by cabinet for implementation this year. This was originally designed as a programmatic curriculum with the view to aligning the lower secondary curriculum more closely to the upper secondary school in accordance with the government’s vision of a comprehensive secondary school system. Besides following the objectivists model of curriculum, the existing JHS curriculum had a number of limitations both in terms of content and structure. For instance, the 1987 reforms, led by the recently deceased Dr Emmanuel Evans-Anfom (may his soul rest in peace), aligned our lower secondary closer to the primary school than upper secondary, to form the basic school system under the government’s FCUBE programme. 

This relationship has since influenced many policy choices including curriculum decisions, teacher recruitment and training, evaluation and certification. A major unintended consequence, for instance, was the strengthened link between primary school and lower secondary school, and the weakened link between the lower and upper secondary school in terms of access and quality. That the Anamuah-Mensah committee in 2002 considered an additional year at the upper secondary school “as a remedial period for the poor quality of education at the junior secondary school level and … for the selection of programmes” highlights the significance of this problem. 

The introduction of the free SHS policy has addressed the access aspect of the problem involving transition from JHS to SHS. The common core curriculum, on the other hand, attempts to address the quality aspect in the form of improved learning experiences based on a common (core) curriculum from JHS1 to SHS1, thereby conceptualising lower and upper secondary as a collective whole. Students may be streamed through elective subjects after first year of upper secondary. This is in contrast to the current approach where students are grouped either by academic ability or by choice on entering upper secondary education. 

A significant body of research shows that early streaming of students into pathways (grammar or vocational education) impacts negatively on learning outcomes. It was against this background that the high-level ministerial technical committee led by former Minister for Education, Prof Dominic Fobih, which conceptualised the common core programme recommended a six-year curriculum system, combining JHS and SHS; with JHS 1-SHS 1 as the foundational learning stage, and extended contact hours of SHS 2-3 for tertiary and work preparation.  

This distinctive feature of the common core curriculum, among others, is important for two reasons. First, given that the option for students to specialize is delayed at least for a year, specialisation will occur at a relatively older age. This could help students and parents become better informed about options and about the consequences of early specialization. Second, students who complete JHS would still have more work to cover in the programme and could even prepare with their available textbooks while at home waiting to enter SHS, thereby making efficient use of time and instructional resources.

Beyond these, it is essential that students who have been exposed to the standards-based curriculum at the primary level, transition to a curriculum system that complements the new curriculum in its purpose and characteristics. Otherwise, we risk compromising the gains that we would have made in fostering real world skills of the young ones. 

As the common core curriculum is currently envisaged to finish at SHS1, final assessment would most likely be at the end of SHS1. This assessment needs to prioritise the validity with respect to the higher order skills in the common core (the ‘Core Competences’). This could involve project work, teamwork, problem solving, among others, with more open-ended tasks, in order to allow students the scope to demonstrate the skills required. Schools and teachers may be incentivised to provide high levels of support for students and/or mark generously, which will have implications for reliability. 

This writer therefore recommends that there be two different assessments for the common core programme, each optimised to a different purpose. One would be for placement in Senior High School and one for assessing the core competences. Exact decisions about when and how these will take place can only follow decisions about the curriculum organisation, assessment and school structure, among others. 

In conclusion, the common core programme is a crystallisation of the president’s vision of producing an educated and skilled workforce to power the nation’s development agenda. With the common core programme supported with instructional resources and a highly motivated teacher workforce, we anticipate to have within a generation, a critical mass of innovators, critical thinkers and leaders who are at par with the best from anywhere in the world and can hold their own in the competitive global arena. Backed by rigorous and faithful implementation, the common core programme stands us in good stead of finally making good on that promise made to a hopeful nation some sixty-four years ago, that we are capable of managing our own affairs.

********************************************************************************************************

The writer is the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim, immediate past Director General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, and Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary
Select Committee on Education.

The 2021 budget has the overall purpose of restoring the economy to growth following the trauma of a global pandemic that upended economies worldwide, including ours. It also seeks to consolidate the many policy gains from the president’s first term in office. In the education sector, the government’s policy intentions appear consistent with the aims set out in the 2018-30 Education Strategic Plan (ESP). I was privileged to help finalise one of a few technical persons drafted by the Ministry of Education for that task.

The ESP aims to boost access and equity, improve quality, increase relevance, improve efficiency and effectiveness and ensure sustainability. These are linked to the overarching national objectives to meet the Sustainable Development Goals espoused by the United Nations in 2015. Intentions are one thing, and cynics might say a budget is just a wish list, but the government’s record in education proves that its words are anything but mere platitudes. An examination of the record should prove to even the most sceptical that it has the alacrity and the drive to deliver on its targets.

In its first four years in office, this government demonstrated its commitment to education, following through on its ginormous ambitions with spending to match and ensuring the effective implementation of its plans.

In 2017, for example, the government spent ¢10.5 billion on education, over a billion more than ¢9.08 billion was spent in 2016. The increases continued over the entire term – ¢12.7 billion in 2018, ¢13.3 billion in 2019, and ¢14.7 billion in 2020. This budget has committed to a further increase in the education sector expenditure, projecting to apply ¢15.6 billion on education this fiscal year.

This spending pattern has, in some significant areas, led to positive educational outcomes. In the last four years, we have seen improvements in access, retention, and completion for Ghanaian children at all levels of education. In the 2016/17 academic year, for example, there were 4,393,061 in primary school. This number leapt to 4,511,268 in the 2018/19 academic year.

Government policies, including the unprecedented Free SHS programme and the absorption of registration fees for Basic Education Certificate Education candidates, meant that an exponentially larger number of students could transition from junior secondary school to senior high school, which hitherto remained the greatest point of school dropout.

In the 2019/20 academic year, there were 1,200,580 students in senior high school, compared to the 813,448 enrolled as of the 2016/17 academic year. Worthy of note is that contrary to research expectations, the first batch of students on the Free SHS scheme outperformed their international counterparts in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations, with more than half attaining the qualifying grades for entry into tertiary institutions.

And it’s not just grammar-type SHS enrolment that has improved. There have been significant increases in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) enrolment, which stood at 53,171 in the 2015/16 academic year and had risen to 59,583 by the 2019/19 academic year.

Gross Enrolment Ratio at the tertiary level now stands at 18.8 per cent, among the highest in the sub-region, with this government laying the foundation for an increase globally respectable 40 per cent by 2030. Of course, this has to be backed by commensurate expansion in the productive sectors of the economy if we are not to compound the existing problem of graduate unemployment.

At the outset of this government’s tenure, many questioned the scale of its ambitions. The facilities in our schools were just not enough to accommodate the numbers we were bent on admitting. To deal with this infrastructure problem, the Ghana Education Trust Fund was authorised to securitize a $1.5 billion facility to fund an accelerated boost to education infrastructure.

In 2017, the government initiated 874 projects across all levels of education. Of these, 518 have been completed with provision made in the 2021 budget to continue the outstanding projects. Between the 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years alone, 60 more senior high schools were added to the national tally, bringing the total number to 690. With funding from the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), the government has initiated 20 Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) centres around the country, which are currently at various stages of completion.

The first phase of construction at the University of Environment and Sustainable Development has been completed and the first batch of students are already in attendance at the institution. All of this would of course mean little if the quality on offer did not serve to advance our mission to build a knowledge economy that will improve life outcomes for the majority of our people. In this context, the government has shown itself to be committed to a future where Ghanaian children are at no disadvantage in comparison with their counterparts anywhere in the world.

Under President Akufo-Addo’s instruction, significant reforms of the content and structure of our school curriculum and assessment systems have been conducted. The standards-based curriculum and the subsequent common core programme, if well implemented, will together help produce a new kind of Ghanaian graduate with the repertoire of skills and competencies that will make them assets to the country and globally competitive professionals.

As head of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the key regulatory agency for this particular
aspect of the government’s education reform agenda, I can confidently attest to the vision and zeal that drove it and the rigour with which it was executed.

To complement the school curriculum reforms, teacher professional development and learning have been stepped up, with the introduction of the National Teachers Standards, National Teacher Education Curriculum Framework, and a new 4-year teacher education curriculum at the Colleges of Education as well as introducing teacher licencing regime and revisions to how teachers are assessed and promoted.

We now demand greater accountability from teachers and heads of institutions, with the ultimate welfare of the child as the foremost consideration. To boost teaching and learning, 1,823 teachers from 303 basic schools have
benefited from Matific training and have been equipped with pedagogical skills in teaching with technology. In addition, the government has recruited 290 school improvement and support officers (formerly circuit supervisors) to monitor the implementation of the new school curriculum. And of course, the restoration of allowances for trainees in our colleges of education motivates our best and brightest to take up the profession.

In 2020, we launched the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP), a five-year project to improve the quality and performance of 10,000 low performing basic schools and 28 special schools. It will also update the skills of all teachers in beneficiary schools through in-service training and provide teaching and learning materials.

With so much done, there still remains a lot to do if the government’s full intentions are to be realised. The year of Covid-19 was an unwelcome interruption that could have derailed a less determined government. While government’s focus will naturally be on restoring economic growth and correcting the fundamentals, it has still, in the budget, signalled its commitment to continued improvements in the sector.

The Free SHS programme will receive GHc 1.97 billion funding this year. Government plans to absorb the registration fees for an estimated 416,066 registered candidates from public Junior High Schools. These and other interventions ease the burdens of parents and keep students in the school will cost government some ¢200 million.

The government has also signalled its intention to complete nine new model senior high schools and seven new SHS schools focusing on creative arts, technical and STEM education. Two existing schools – Diaso Community SHS and Koase Senior High Technical School will be upgraded into model schools. This will boost both access and quality at the secondary level.

Improvements in teaching and learning will be aided by the training of 11,997 teachers on the KG-P6 Standard-Based Curriculum and 95,000 teachers on the Common Core Programme. We will also conduct the first National Standard Assessment Test (NSAT) for pupils in years 2 and 4 at the primary level. These non-promotional tests will provide us with a vital dataset on pupils’ attainment of set competencies at those levels and inform further adjustments, where necessary, to teaching and learning approaches.

This year, we will commence the five-year Ghana Jobs and Skills Project, which will develop competency-based training curricula from level one to five of the National TVET Qualification Framework (NTVETQF) for one hundred trades and professions. It will also provide apprenticeship training to a minimum of 700 private enterprises and entrepreneurship support to SMEs around the country. The government will also tackle youth unemployment with the operationalisation of Ghana Labour Market Information System and the upgrading of district public employment centres and services.

At the tertiary level, the 2021 budget will ensure the launch of the Enhanced Student Loans Scheme. As promised in the NPP’s manifesto, which won the approval of Ghanaian voters in 2020, this revised scheme will allow students to access loans without the need for guarantors, which has prevented a good number from doing so.

This will enable more people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who have also benefitted from the free SHS programme to have an equal chance at gaining tertiary education and reaching their potential. For their counterparts in colleges of education, government will spend over Ghc 170 million for the first and second semesters for trainees.

To its credit, Akufo-Addo government has shown the will and capacity to deliver on its promises in education. After the trauma of Covid-19, with money tight and the economy in a fragile state, it will have to show that it can do more with less. This will require some more innovation in how government applies its budget in pursuit of ambitious policy aspirations. If the first term is any guide, however, we can be confident that the government will follow through on the educational aspirations outlined in the budget.

This is important because education has been known to provide countries with the human capital boost needed to lift the masses out of poverty. The achievement of its goals in education will undoubtedly empower citizens to create and sustain wealth while also enabling them to demand accountability to improve governance and protect the public purse.

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The writer is the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim and the Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education. He was previously the Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

First, it was the case of students with dreadlocks who were accepted and then denied admission to Achimota School. The school argued that its rules do not permit students to wear their hair in such a manner, while the students and their parents and defenders argued that it was an expression of (religious) identity that had to be accommodated by the institution. That matter is now in the courts. The results of that case would likely be a hugely significant moment in our evolving socio-cultural status as a country.

More recently, a young student at Wesley Girls High School, another of the nation’s prominent second cycle institutions has been cast, as it were, into the eye of a similar storm. The student in this case did not reject the barber’s scissors, but sought leave from the pleasures of the school’s dining tables, as she observes the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The school took a rather dim view of this and refused permission. The girl’s father threatened to withdraw his ward from the school and after meetings between the Ministry of Education and the leadership of the Methodist Church, the mission to which the school owes allegiance, the Ministry advised schools to allow students to fast, provided their parents formally absolved the school from any health consequences that may be occasioned by the ascetic observance.

This has not gone down well with some stakeholders. The Methodist Church has expressed serious reservations about the guidance issued by the Ministry, while the school’s alumni and Parent Teacher Associations have all come to the defence of the school’s decision. On the other hand, my colleagues Muslim Caucus in Parliament and the Islamic Doctors Association of Ghana have defended the right to fast and in the case of the latter, vouched for its safety.

As so often happens in a free society, we are at a vital crossroads that we can use to grow or allow ourselves to be torn apart. The unfortunate and emotive takes on the issue, from various quarters miss the point of what a democracy is and ignore the fact that society is at the best of times, a vast and unwieldy morass of competing rights and overlapping responsibilities.

What we need to do is carefully decipher the issues at play in order to arrive at a solution which, even if it might not satisfy everyone, we can all live with. Many have jumped at the obvious thread and sought to frame it as a religious question. This is unfortunate not only because it is wrong, but because it threatens the inter-religious cohesion that we have worked so hard to preserve over six decades of nationhood. If we misdiagnose the problem, we will likely end up with the wrong solution. As any graduate of a second cycle institution would tell you, understanding the question is part of the exam.

What is rather at issue, in my humble view, is the conflict between the age-old rules of these institutions, which were crafted to promote discipline, cohesion and academic performance and meant to be obeyed by all on one hand; and the specific circumstances of some groups for whom some of these rules may prove problematic.

School rules are of course “colour blind” and meant to be obeyed by all. And there are reasons for that. Boarding schools in particular, go beyond the mere impartation of academic knowledge but take upon themselves the task of forming the minds and characters of the adolescents who enter its walls and halls. To do this, it is established norm for them to infringe on some rights of these young individuals as expressed in Article 14(1e) of the 1992 Constitution of our dear Republic. For example, they may not leave the school premises without written permission; must dress in a certain way; must wake up from and go to bed at set times; and more relevantly to the current debate, have meals at set times. All these are rules that are known, predictable and ubiquitously enforceable.

There are good reasons for this. Established rules and regulations help guide acceptable behaviour. They also ensure that there is a safe environment for students themselves as well are teaching and non-teaching staff. Above all, they help ensure that there is a conducive learning environment. They are not on-the-fly directives to assuage religious or other urges; they are carefully thought-through guidelines to achieve those ends. It is also good practice for when students enter the real world and have to adhere to myriad rules of conduct in and out of the workplace, even those they find very inconvenient.

On the other hand, our richly divergent society means that not all these rules are easily adhered to by all. Many of our schools are mission schools, originally built by religious sects before they were “taken over” by government. Church services are compulsory on most second cycle institutions but these schools also accept without discrimination, students that are avowedly non-Christian. Often, an accommodation may be reached where non-Christians or even those who adhere to different denominations, are allowed space and time to observe their religious rites. Attendance at church service, is however non-negotiable.

This time, a student is seeking to opt out of the non-religious routine of nutrition for sustenance on account of religious reasons. So how do we reach an accommodation?

I believe the circular from the Ghana Education Service was well intentioned. But we must be careful not to open doors we cannot keep open. Are we able and prepared to make exceptions to all school rules to satisfy all religious practices? Because if we do for one group and cannot do for another, we open ourselves up to charges of discrimination – the very situation we are trying to avoid.

What schools ask, in fact, is that you obey the rules. What they do not demand is that you change your beliefs. Attending the school-mandated church services do not make you a Christian if you aren’t one in the first place. In the same way, one might suggest that your presence at dining does not constitute an infringement of the rules of fasting if you do not partake of the food. The school, after all, cannot force water into the house, even if it insists on its presence by the stream. Therefore, a compromise might be that students who are fasting attend dining hall along with their colleagues, satisfying the school rules, but refrain from eating, thereby preserving their religious observance.

This might not be the answer that satisfies all of us, but it may well be the slightly unpalatable accommodation that enables us to move on. And in a liberal, diverse democratic society, this spirit of compromise is the vital fluid for our progress.

The writer is the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim and Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary
Select Committee on Education.

This ideal was very much a priority in the formulation of the current, standards-based curriculum now in use. The framers of the curricula understood the need to use it as a tool for uniting the nation, inspiring patriotism and spurring acts of nationalism. I can personally attest to this because as the then Director General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), it was my responsibility to ensure that the final work we presented, answered these very important questions.

In recent days, there have been reports of unsavoury content in some textbooks purported to be for use in our lower institutions of learning. In particular, some of these books have been found to have content that seem to cast some of our local ethnic groups in bad light. Others have been accused of distorting some of our historical experiences.

In line with modern best practices, NaCCA did not produce textbooks themselves. This time, independent publishers are to produce textbooks that conform to the curriculum, meet various technical and content requirements and pass a very rigorous approval process.

Under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023), it is only NaCCA that has the mandate to review, approve or reject books for use in our schools. These include but are not limited to textbooks, supplementary materials, e-materials or digital content, non-text materials such as manipulatives, puzzles, games and others.

The submission guidelines for publishers looking to produce textbooks for Ghanaian children, publicly available, set out very clear and non-negotiable standards that publishers must meet. They include detailed technical requirements including the quality of paper and the nature of binding that books must employ. It is instructive, given the current controversy, that the methodological requirements include “particular consideration of gender sensitivity issues relating to inclusiveness and stereotyping among learners”, among others.

For NaCCA to consider any textbook, a publisher must submit five copies, three of which must be without any identifying branding understood as anonymous copies. These are then provided to highly trained independent assessors who do not consult or even know one another. The assessors score the books using a detailed criteria mark sheet to which a book must score 80% on conformity to the curriculum and an overall minimum of 65% of the total criteria marks.

It is only after meeting these stringent requirements that NaCCA would empower a publisher to produce books for the mass market. Even then, the Council requires that publishers lodge copies of the final approved textbook with them so they can check if the version is the same as those in public circulation. A total of 1,107 textbooks and 370 supplementary materials have so far been approved for use under the Standards-based Curriculum for Kindergarten and Primary Schools through this process.

Here again, I can attest to the diligence of this process. During the period where I led the process, there were many books that were rejected for lack of quality, and many others that were only approved after the authors revised them to meet the very high standards that the council required of the materials. Indeed, so meticulous was this process that some teachers and parents complained about the length of time it was taking to approve books for use.

NaCCA, both then under my leadership and now, took and takes the matter of our children’s education extremely seriously and would not do anything to jeopardise that. Nor would it allow anyone, no matter who, to use educational materials to denigrate any tribe or score obscure political points.

As happens, however, there will always be elements who operate outside the law, skirt around it or blatantly ignore it. This is how, to the shock of many of us, we have found these substandard materials parading in the public space as ‘NaCCA approved’ textbooks. The offending books, it must be emphatically stated, have not been granted approval by NaCCA. The Council itself has made that clear and asked the publishers to withdraw the books. The publishers have themselves apologised, indicating an admission of error on their parts.

The fact that this potentially explosive situation occurred, however, should spur urgent action. It must be noted that while NaCCA is the only education regulatory body responsible for certifying textbooks, its powers do not extend to the enforcement of this process. In practice, what this means that those who flatly refuse to abide by the process and publish and circulate textbooks without NaCCA’s approval cannot be sanctioned by the Council. There are no clear penalties under its operationalising act, the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023) that NaCCA can bring to bear when errant publishers endanger our children with poisonous materials.

By contrast, the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), the enabling act for the Food and Drugs Authority, for instance, gives it the power to levy “an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units” and even withdraw and destroy unapproved foods and drugs that find their way into the market. NaCCA does not have such corresponding powers and so cannot on its own motion, move to remove materials not in conformity with its standards from bookshelves.

This is where I believe that conversation must be centred. We need to give NaCCA the power to enforce its regulations and punish offenders. Without it, those minded to might well produce such books and sell to the unsuspecting public. We need to view the potentially destructive effect of illicit educational materials as akin to the insalubrious effects of contaminated food and drugs and act accordingly.   

In addition, all of us should play the necessary role of scrutinising the materials on offer before purchasing for our children. To aid parents, schools and other institutions make buying decisions, for example, we introduced a short code from which one could instantly check the approval status of a book by texting the ISBN assigned to each book and displayed on its cover. The approved list of books is also available on NaCCA’s website.

We must recognise our collective role as stakeholders and help the regulator police the books on our shelves. It is commendable that the public took up this matter with the seriousness it deserves. Less commendable, however, are the actions of some people, who immediately sought to inflame passions for their own parochial purposes, and discerned a non-existing tribal agenda from unseen faces in our political space. To those individuals, my message is simple: this country is home to a rich and wonderful array of cultures and peoples who collectively make it great.  Neither this government or its agents will ever pit one tribe against another, nor any one ethnic group above others. We are all Ghanaians who belong here equally. Our educational system will always reflect this belief, entrench it in our young minds and ensure that there is peace, love and mutual respect between all tribes.

The writer is the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim, Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and the former Director General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

The final motion that was debated was, in the words of the mover himself, “materially different” from the one he had first canvassed on 20th January 2021. Then, the motion was “that this House resolves to request the President of the Republic of Ghana to take urgent steps to suspend the payment of admission fees by new entrants into public tertiary education institutions and continuing students of those institutions for the 2021 academic year as part of the national COVID-19 relief programmes being implemented by Government.

The final rendition that was finally debated and voted on by the house asked “that this House resolves to request the President of the Republic of Ghana to take urgent steps to absorb the fees of students of public tertiary education institutions for the 2020/2021 academic year and to extend support to accredited private universities as part of the national COVID-19 alleviation measures being implemented by the Government of Ghana.”

On the face of it, its evolving list of demands notwithstanding, the motion seems well intentioned. The covid-19 pandemic has ravaged many families. It is for precisely this reason that government embarked on several covid-19 relief initiatives to cushion working families. Apart from the much talked about free water and free electricity, government also made available grants and concessionary loans to support small businesses and their owners. It is worth noting that at the time, some on the other side of the political divide derided these necessary interventions as mere political gimmicks. We will however restrain ourselves and assess his motion on its merits.

With the layers stripped off, the intention of the motion became clear. It was not to merely to “suspend the payment of fees” but in fact to get the government to take on their payment. The motion also went further to seek some “support” for students in private tertiary institutions. The obvious question, which was not answered by the motion was how much all of these would cost. For example, there are several fees that students in tertiary institutions pay including association dues. There are some students who unfortunately owe fees from previous semesters. Were all these to be included in the relief package? To not define which ones the house was to ask government to pay – or indeed the nature of the support for students in private institutions – amounted to asking government for blank cheque that we would then later fill in as we saw fit. And that is no way to run a responsible government.

The motion also ignored the constitutional hindrance, which prevents the House from imposing a financial imperative on the government unless we are able to determine where government can find that money from. Throughout the debate, however, supporters of the motion pointedly neglected to identify which government programmes they proposed to suspend in order to free up funds for this laudable venture. Neither did they propose a new tax or taxes to fund a venture so amorphous and so ill-defined that it could put our fiscal health in jeopardy.

As we all know, government has already provided and is providing various forms of assistance to the Ghanaian public, among whom are these tertiary students and/or their parents. These programmes are already exacting a toll on the fiscal space, which the honourable member now seeks to add to with an undefined bill on which would rest the very survival of our tertiary education system. Interestingly, Honourable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, speaking in support of the motion, insisted that the economy was in recession. Why would we impose such a burden on an economy in recession, one can’t help but wonder?

What is beyond doubt, however, is Akufo-Addo administration’s unrivalled commitment to education in this country. It was this government that moved ahead to provide fee-free education at the secondary school level while others said it was impossible. It was this government that restored allowances for teachers and nursing trainees while others said it made no sense. It was this government that abolished the payment of utility bills by students in tertiary institutions while others said that was the only way to keep the institutions going.

More to the point, the New Patriotic Party has already thought these things through and has in characteristic fashion, devised some innovative solutions to the burden on tertiary students that do not involve endangering the economy and are more sustainable.

In our 2020 manifesto, we proposed to remove all impediments to the acquisition of student loans, including the need for guarantors. When effected, this will mean that with only a Ghana Card, any student can access the loan and apply some of it to these fees. On page 154 of the manifesto, we undertake to
“Make sure no student who has obtained admission to a tertiary institution is denied access because they are unable to pay fees. We will provide all such students, with the exception of teacher and nurse trainees who are paid allowances, an option to obtain a student loan:
• Without the requirement of a guarantor for the loan, provided he or she has a National Identification Number from the Ghana Card, and
• Defer repayment of the loan after National Service plus an additional one-year grace period”.
It is also worthy of note that the amount available to each student was increased by 50 % in the President’s first term.

In addition, we have expanded, decentralised and streamlined the operations of the National Scholarship Secretariat, meaning that students who genuinely need assistance are able to get it.

The combination of these measures give hope to the Ghanaian student and mean that we do not have to risk our economic recovery on an ill-defined intervention. Good government means doing what is sustainable and efficient and not what feels good or popular.

If Honourable Ayariga and his colleagues want to help, I’d suggest that when government brings these measures to the floor, they join us in support of them so we can extend help quickly to the very people his motion purported to assist.

The writer is the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim and former Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.