Accra, Feb. 15, – Free Senior
High School (SHS) is great but apparently it’s not really new, Mr Ace Ankomah,
a legal practitioner and a leading member of the pressure group, Occupy Ghana,
has said.
He said some form of free
education had being going on in Ghana for years; stating that once a person
gains admission into a public secondary school or university, the government
makes some subventions available to contribute to his/her education.
Mr Ankomah made this known in his
presentation at the Third Annual Public Lecture of the Rotary Club of
Accra-West in Accra.
The public lecture forms part of
activities marking the birth of Rotary Club, which is dedicated for peace and
conflict resolution
Speaking on the theme: “Ghana:
Caught between the Missing Link and the Trigger”, Mr Ankomah said: “I did not appreciate what
went into education until I was hired one day to represent the public
universities of Ghana in court. And there was a legal action that sought to say
that it was unconstitutional for public universities to charge fees.”
“In the course of meeting the
vice chancellors, I discovered for the very first time that all of us who went
to public universities in Ghana, except the fee paying people, were actually
being looked after by the government.
“I found out that the number of
students admitted into the public universities depends on how much money the
government makes available. I did not know. And so, an aspect of paying free
education has been going on in Ghana for a long time,” he added.
Mr Ankomah said: “Free SHS is
great but apparently it’s not really new. There was some true virtue that it
didn't matter how smart or dumb you are. Once you gain admission to secondary
school some were paid and once you gain admission into the university,
government contributed to your education.”
He said this must be a great
country where we spend money to educate young men and young women, and the day
after they graduate, the look at the country and say this country is too awful
and they jet off outside Ghana for better opportunities.
“This must be the only country on
earth where we pay money to educate doctors and a day after their graduation,
they say this country is too awful and so they leave”.
He said even when people were
admitted for Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programmes they were
still on government subventions; asking that where on earth will you get MBA on
government subvention? And even lawyers were being educated on government
subvention.
He said many who went to public
SHS and universities were trained with the ordinary tax payer’s money; stating
that there was a certain charge that the people whose money was used to train
you deserve some returns from you.
Mr Emmanuel Quarshie, the
President of the Rotary Club of Accra-West, said the aim of the public lecture
was to identify our short comings as a nation and to prescribe solutions for
them, so that we would move forward as a nation.
GNA
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