Former Deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim-Boateng, has said the Akufo-Addo government adopted a populist approach towards the free Senior High School programme, hence the introduction of the Voluntary Education Fund.

The government of Ghana on Wednesday revealed that it will set up a trust to receive donations from the public to support education in Ghana.

“In 2018, the Ministry will work with GETfund to set up this education fund to enable Ghanaians make voluntary contributions to support education,” Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told parliament when he delivered the 2018 Budget and Economic Policy Statement to parliament on the theme: “Putting Ghana Back to Work”.

According to Mr Ofori-Atta, “government has received proposals from the public, several of which encourage the establishment of a fund to receive voluntary contributions to support education”.

For him, “the GETfund law allows for the setting up of other education-related funds”, so, government will pursue the initiative to improve education in the country.

This comes on the heels of the Free Senior High School (SHS) initiative which started in September 2017.

But sharing his view on this initiative, Mr Agyenim-Boateng, in a tweet said: “If you take a populist approach to free education, you end up setting up Voluntary Education Fund.”

If you take a populist approach to free education, you end up setting up Voluntary Education Fund.

— James Agyenim-Boaten (@jagyenim) November 16, 2017