We are aware of the NPP lies and empty promises on education. I dare them to refute the following comparison: they are good at perpetuating lies…NPP I DARE YOU…Nana Akuffo Addo is selling the promise of free education to Ghanaians but I say “once bitten twice shy”. A brain child of this administration; causing financial loss to the state sounded commendable but the road to justice got steered off. This was the perfect vehicle in the pursuit of their agenda. AKUFO-ADDO WE ARE PRIVY TO YOUR LIES…I have been receiving treacherous emails from the NPP cronies when I criticize this current corrupt administration especially from folks who see things only from an ethnic angle... I saw Ghana @ 50 for the first time and was flabbergasted at the extent we will go to show the world what we think we have 20 million dollars? What for? Come on people, NPP COME CLEAN AND EXPLAIN TO THE PEOPLE OF GHANA WHAT YOU USED THE MONEY FOR. ALSO WHERE ARE THE CARS YOU PURCHASED FOR THE EVENT? Superfluous flaunt of wealth we don’t have. How does this nonsense translates into the pockets of poor Ghanaians. What about the millions of unemployed Ghanaian youth walking about on the street of Kumasi and Accra. How do we expect our youth to be motivated, discipline and patriotic when their chances to achieving their dreams are hanging around the necks of their useless NPP leaders? SHAME ON NPP…

According to another liar Mr. Mac Manu NPP chairman, between 2005 and 2006, enrolment in basic schools increased by 16 per cent due to the introduction of the capitation grant and other policies by the NPP. He forgot to mention the other policies because they do not exist.

The introduction of the capitation grant is an infringement of the constitution. The 1992 constitution calls for the introduction of a free, compulsory, basic education by 2005. To pay 30,000 cedis per pupil, while parents pay for exercise books, some texts books and uniform does not constitute free education. As far as the NDC is concerned, free education means the provision of free exercise books, textbooks, uniform, food and any other material a child would need for purposes of offering each Ghanaian of school-age the opportunity to attend school. NPP YOUR LYING DAYS ARE NUMBERED…

While the NPP shouts about 30,000 cedis as capitation grant, pupils are being asked to buy 5 to 10 note one exercise books at 30,000 cedis each, textbooks and drawing aids. The exercise books alone cost over150, 000 cedis. As for free transport the least said about it the better. How many of the metro-mass buses are road worthy and are plying the roads in Accra? The main garage of the bus company at Kaneshie in Accra is a museum of national resources wasted on the purchase of depilated buses. WHAT A WASTE…

SALIENT FACTS:

The fact of the matter is NPP has done it again by lying to the people of Ghana. In 1990/91, there were 1.8 million children in 9, 300 primary schools, 609,000 pupils in 5, 200 junior secondary schools and 200, 000 students in about 250 secondary schools. At the time we were leaving office in 2000, the NDC left 12,130 primary schools, 5400 junior secondary schools and over 450 secondary schools. We added two hundred secondary schools to what we inherited from the PNDC. Within seven years, the NPP government has not added even fifty secondary schools to what we handed over to them.

In 2001, the NPP government promised to rehabilitate 25 secondary schools. Three years later in 2004, the number was increased by 20 to 45. To-date, the NPP government under Kufuor’s watch is yet to complete the modernization exercise.

At the secondary level, at the time we were leaving office, the approved boarding fee for a term was 187, 000 cedis. Under the NPP, the figure has increased to ¢676,700 per term aside the numerous hidden charges paid by parents averaging over ¢500,000 across board. In December 2000, the University of Ghana primary school charged 150, 000 cedis for external pupils; today it is 900,000 cedis.

At the tertiary level, the NDC added three new public universities; UDS, UCEW, the University of Mines and Technology at Tarkwa and a medical school to what we came to meet, apart from providing the regional capitals without a polytechnic with a polytechnic. Wa, Bolgatanga, Koforidua did not have a polytechnic before the NDC government was installed in 1993 but they each had it before we left office.

In September 2000, the academic and residential user fees paid by first year students at the University College of Mines, Tarkwa were 700, 000 cedis. Today, in Kufuor’s Ghana , first year students at the same University are paying 4,820,000 cedis for the same facilities. The fees paid by students of the University of Mines and Technology reflect what is payable by first year science students in all the public universities.

At the Accra City Campus of the University of Ghana, the fees are 8,000,000 cedis, for level 100, and 9, 760, 000 and 7, 780, 000cedis for level 200 Administration and Humanities respectively. For level 300 the figures are 9,760, 000 cedis and 7,560, 000 cedis for Administration and Humanities respectively. In Kufuor’s Ghana, tertiary education is a privilege.

All these fees are being charged at a time when the NPP government raked in over 1.5 trillion cedis in 2006 alone from the GETFund which was established by the NDC Government. Instead of using the GETFund resources to provide classrooms and other teaching materials for children in deprived communities, the NPP is using the GETFund to purchase and distribute buses painted in NPP colors. In an instance money from the GETFund was used to build a bungalow for a resource-rich regional institution like the West Africa Examination Council.

The NDC believes that the GETFund, without which our education system would have collapsed, provides an opportunity to guarantee each Ghanaian child a classroom with a roof and windows, and all the benefits that occur from the full implementation of a free, compulsory, universal education scheme.

As to parents paying tuition fees in public institutions, it seems the NPP Chairman did not know what he was talking about. Tuition in all public basic, secondary and tertiary institutions has been free since the Nkrumah era. Time did not allow Dr. Busia the opportunity to introduce the payment by pupils and students tuition fees he had planned for our education system. So far, tuition fees are paid in any private and public schools which are not covered by the capitation grant and private secondary and tertiary institutions.

It might interest Akufo-Addo and the NPP to know that at 3rd grade kindergarten institutions in the city of Accra parents are paying 600,000cedis per term for their toddler’s aside uniform, reading and other learning materials. Be that as it may, if Parents will rush their children to school simply because government is giving them ¢2500/month then the poverty level is very crippling and bad.

THE DETAILED NDC ACHIEVEMENT ON EDUCATION o Implemented an educational reform that brought about the standardization of elementary education, such as primary schools, JSS, SSS;

o Introduced a broad spectrum of curriculum, exposing all students to the liberal arts, technical skills, and entrepreneurial studies before reaching the tertiary level, thereby enabling students to make a more informed decision on their career choices.

o Establishment of one Polytechnic institute per region – a three-year certificate program that is recognized in the United Kingdom as equivalent to three years of tertiary/university degree programs, whereas an additional year of education confers upon them a bachelor’s degree.

o Industrial Attachment - enabling tertiary students to work with companies in their field of studies before while in school, which enabled students to gain real world work experience before joining the job market.

o Established the Ghana Educational Trust Fund (GET Fund) which revolutionizes the educational sector and continues to benefit millions of Ghanaians.

o Established the University of Development Studies in Tamale, of which Rawlings used his World Hunger Award Prize money to buy books for the University’s library ($2-5 million financial award)

o Upgraded the Winneba Advance Teacher’s College to a fully accredited public university status, namely, University of Education, Winneba. Thereby adding two universities to the three established since nation’s independence.

o Liberalized the educational system to encourage the establishment of private tertiary institutions and universities across the country

o Successful efforts were made for every district in the nation to have at least two senior secondary schools. It is clear that the narcotic peddling party cannot match the great party NDC achievement on education. VOTE NDC FOR A BETTER GHANA…

ATTA-MILLS’S EDUCATION POLICY POSITION

According to the learned professor Atta-Mills: Quality education of every child and young person must be our top priority. Education should not be for sale to the highest bidder, and access to quality education should be a right, not a privilege". "The objective of my educational policy is to lay a solid foundation for a sustainable, credible and efficient education system capable of producing the human resource needed to meet the challenges of the new millennium". "Building educational institutions that strive for excellence by international standards is not a luxury that developing countries can ill-afford. In a global world, it is a condition for survival and potential leadership". Public expenditures on education are always classified as current expenditures but they are also an investment in the future of the society. Thus, according to Professor Atta Mills, education (quality education) must be a top priority of any society that aspires to greatness, and public allocations to the sector must be protected as much as feasible. In any case, no child should be denied access to education due to lack of means. Quality education will, however, not be realizable unless there are quality, adequately compensated, and motivated educators. This requires a holistic approach to improving education and specific policies addressing all levels of education (primary, secondary, and tertiary) with a focus on the institutions dedicated to teacher education and accelerated development of distance learning. The primary objective of education is to produce the human resources needed to meet the challenges of the new millennium, wherever these challenges are found. In a global economy where resources (human, physical, financial) move to economic spaces where the opportunities are greatest, it would be a mistake to anchor our educational policies very narrowly on the human resources needed by the Ghanaian economy at a specific period of time. Some "brain drain" is inevitable, especially in a transitional period, when Ghanaian youth acquire the skills most needed by the world economy, and it would be foolhardy to seek simplistic approaches to halt the process. This is all the more so, since experience shows whenever a critical mass of expertise is developed in a given economic space, businesses do tend to relocate there to take advantage of these resources (India in Information Technology sectors, for example). Private sector participation in the establishment of educational institutions is not only inevitable but desirable. The public and private sectors must be united in a "smart partnership" to create and implement a National Education Strategy. The private sector has a role in supplementing the public sector in providing quality basic education (literacy, science, technology, mathematics, and technical education) to those students who can afford it. Moreover, when it comes to the training in specific skills for industry, the private sector is better placed since such training must be demand-driven. AGAIN THE MANIFESTOS WILL BE OUTDOORED PRETTY SOON FOR A DETAILED EDUCATION POLICY. Today we are faced with a million problems, new ones burgeoning on daily basis. Starting from guinea worm disease to HIV/AIDS, unemployment to ethnic violence. These problems become markers of injustice, discrimination and lack of human rights. We need to hold this NPP crooks responsible and accountable rather than turning a blind eye because of our ethnic affiliations.

NPP IS A DISGRACE…THIEVES…LOOTERS…CALLOUS…CHEATERS…DRUD PEDDLERS…LIES…NINCOMPOOPS. ATTA-MILLS AND THE NDC CARES FOR THE PEOPLE OF GHANA. VOTE ATTA-MILLS AND THE NDC FOR A BETTER GHANA. AGAIN…IF GOLD (KUFOUR) ROT, WHAT WILL IRON (AKUFO-ADDO) DO”

Humphrey Tettey Mensah(booker tee)

htmensah@yahoo.com