NPP confused as Gh cedis30.1million Free SHS debt is blamed on NDC

It looks as though the NPP is confused as Ghs 30.1million free SHS debt is blamed on NDC. The Education Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh on Tuesday said, the National Democratic Congress NDC’s Progressively Free SHS policy when it was in government left GH¢30.1 million arrears for the 2015/16 academic year.

He said, the programme started with day students only during the said period, but that debt has since been paid by the Akufo-Addo led government.

READ: I’ll restore indigenous investment in banking sector – Mahama

Matters Arising as Free SHS debt is blamed on NDC

Dr Prempeh Continued by saying nothing was paid by the NDC in respect of the 120,000 boarding students at time, what he called “the high-sounding Progressively Free programme in the 2016/17 academic year”.

In his statement on “education and teacher reforms” to Parliament, the Minister praised the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on its policies in the education, and made a
Staunch mockery of critics who had doubts over the Government’s implementation of the Free programme .

He said: “Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the initial hiccups, the Free SHS programme is here to stay and we are confident that the generality of Ghanaians are fully behind it.”

“The President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, is committed to providing our citizens with the requisite knowledge, skills and experiences, needed to lift them from deprivation to the path of prosperity,” the Minister said, adding that “education is the shortest pathway between deprivation and opportunity, between despair and hope, between helplessness and promise.”

He said the Government kept its promise of implementing the highly talked about Free SHS programme in September 2017, only nine months in to office.

Dr Prempeh emphatically announced that from then till date, over 1.2 million students have benefited from the Free SHS programme.

“Despite few initial challenges in respect of implementation, Ghanaians have largely embraced this programme and the testimonies are endless.

“Mr. Speaker, we all witnessed that, in 2016, many presumed that our capability to implement the programme is below par, citing unavailability of funding, inadequate physical classroom structures and other school facilities to support implementation, and many more factors.