President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
The dream of implementing free tertiary education policy by the Akufo-Addo-led government has been challenged by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Emmanuel K.K Anyimah, a spokesperson for the NDC believes the policy will not be possible under the leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Anyimah cited what he described as the lack of commitment on the part of the government to implement the programme.
His comment was on the back of President Akufo-Addo’s revelation that his government is likely to introduce a free tertiary education programme as part of increasing access to education.
Speaking during the Global Education Summit held in London on Thursday, July 29, Akufo-Addo did not disclose further details of the plans he has for tertiary institutions in Ghana.
“For now, what has been put in place is a system where students at the tertiary level are provided loans while in school to help them cater for their needs, but we’re considering free Tertiary education too,” Akufo-Addo said.
Touching on the Free SHS policy spearheaded by his government, the President noted that additional resources will be allocated to address challenges relating to increasing access and inadequate infrastructure limiting the effects of the programme.
But K.K Anyimah believes Akufo-Addo’s comment on free tertiary education for Ghanaians was a lip service.
Speaking on Dwaboase on Power FM hosted by Oheneba Boamah Bennie, the NDC spokesperson said free tertiary education was nky possible under Akufo-Addo.
He argued that the Free SHS programme had not been successful over the years that it was introduced.
Chastising the government for what he described as “empty promises”, Anyimah argued that for such a policy to work efficiently, lecturers would have to be part of the programme, stressing that when the demands of the lecturers are not met, the programme would not succeed.
Anyimah went on to cite the strike action of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) as the reason behind his doubts.
“University Teachers are asking the government to fix their salaries and allowances but nothing has been done about it… So how does the government implement a Free Tertiary education system when he can’t pay university lecturers?” He quizzed.