A communicator with the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Eric Appiah Adjei has indicated that, the implementation of the free education policy will not be from Nana Addo’s pocket money but from the tax payer.

Speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, he said he fully supports the free senior high school however; protocol and some challenges are affecting the smooth delivery of the policy. He said, some parents are stranded because their wards have not been posted despite qualifying for the free senior high school.

‘’The free education should come. I am a Ghanaian citizen and I support it because the implementation of the policy is not going to be from Nana Addo’s pocket money but from the tax payer’s money.’’

Eric Appiah Adjei opined that the budget read by the Finance Minister early this year, did not touch on whether the uncompleted educational infrastructure by the previous administration would be completed. The implementation of free education he stressed should be premised on quality and accessibility and not just wholesale implementation saddled with challenges.

In a rebuttal, NPP’s communicator, Nana Kwame Asafo Agyei posited that, the free education policy under this government is totally comprehensive as compared to NDC’s progressively free.

He insisted that the policy will cater for beneficiaries’ fees and parents would not be allowed to pay a penny when their wards are admitted in school. Deputy Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum on Monday held a press conference where he gave the assurance that all was set for the policy implementation.

“Whatever we need to put in place has been put in place...core text books have been distributed throughout the country. It has never happened before. ‘’The good news is that we didn’t want them to wait till the second year before we bring them the second year book, the third year we bring them the third year book.

So when I spoke to one headmaster he said I have my first-year mathematics books, second-year mathematics books, and third-year mathematics so I don’t have to worry about the next three years.

“We really want to prepare. As you can see from our logo, this is not just about access. It is also about quality," he stated. “…I don’t want a child to be sent back home because of a fee item and Nana Addo Dankwa doesn’t want that to happen. He in his mind is saying everything must be free and in practice he wants it to be free.

“..The idea is that we don’t want to put any impediment on any parent,” he stated. Out of the total number of 460,941 registered candidates, 424,092 candidates representing 92% qualified to be placed on the Computerized School Selection System Placements (CSSPS).

Those who had challenges with their posting were asked to post themselves to preferred schools.

Meanwhile, a new website was launched today [Tuesday] after numerous complaints from parents and their wards who visited the previous website to select their schools.

Officials say the new website www.cssps.gov.gh should resolve the challenges. The Service has also extended the deadline for the self-placement to Thursday, September 7, 2017.

In a statement, the Education Ministry said it has been “working with the National Information Technology Agency to resolve this challenge and wishes to assure the general public of immediate full access.”