The Spokesperson on Education for the NDC, Dr. Clement Abas Apaak, has outlined major reforms the NDC will introduce should they assume office in 2025.

According to him, the double-track system will be abolished to restore a single academic calendar.

He added that the NDC will embark on an emergency infrastructure drive to complete abandoned E-blocks and expand infrastructure in existing SHSs and TVET institutions.

Speaking at the NDC’s sectoral press briefing on its 2024 manifesto, he listed 13 reforms the NDC will undertake:

1. Abolish the double-track system to restore a stable one-track academic calendar;

2. Embark on an emergency infrastructure drive to complete abandoned E-blocks and expand infrastructure in existing SHSs and TVET institutions;

3. Provide a dedicated and sustainable funding source for quality secondary education by ring-fencing a percentage of our oil proceeds;

4. Decentralize the procurement of food and other basic supplies, ensure timely food supply and improve the quantity and quality of food for students;

5. Continue our policy of provision of free laptops/tablets for SHS students;

6. Extend Free SHS to cover students in private Senior High Schools;

7. Review the Computerized School Selection & Placement System (CSSPS) to address corruption in school placement and make it merit-based;

8. Reform secondary education curricula to integrate STEM, agriculture, vocational skills, digital literacy, civic education, design thinking and life skills into secondary educational outcomes;

9. Expand Science Resource Centres (SRC) across the regions to support STEM/TVET education;

10. Commence the establishment of regional TVET Centres of Excellence integrated with fabrication and other state-of-the-art facilities to promote innovation and simulate real work environments;

11. Prioritize, rebrand and increase investments in TVET as a key anchor of economic transformation;

13. Implement a ‘National Apprenticeship Programme’ to generate self-employment through the provision of free technical and vocational training for young people in various crafts;

With regards to the tertiary, he highlighted 9 distinctive policies the NDC will take to transform the sector.

The next NDC/Mahama government, he said, will:

1. Implement a ‘No-Academic-Fees’ policy for all first-year students in all public tertiary institutions (Universities, Technical Universities, Colleges of Education, Nursing Training Colleges etc.);

2. Provide Free Tertiary Education for all persons with disabilities;

3. Implement a ‘Bed-for-All’ programme by building on-campus and affordable students' hostels and expanding accommodation facilities for tertiary students through PPP Schemes;

4. Provide trainee allowances, student loans and other diverse funding options for teacher and nurses trainees;

5. Revamp the Student Loan Trust Fund to increase loan amounts based on a needs assessment and ensure prompt disbursements;

6. Introduce legislation to usher in a new era of government scholarship administration which will prohibit the award of scholarships to government officials and streamline scholarships across multiple sectors to do away with the current uncoordinated regime;

7. De-collateralise the GETFUND and restore it to its original mandate of educational financing;

8. Continue with our policy to establish public universities in every region with a focus on newly-created regions;

9. Improve subventions to public Universities and ensure timely disbursements.



NAY/AE

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