Former President John Dramani Mahama, has re-emphasised the need for stakeholder engagement to roll out an effective Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme, to achieve the desired results. ‘We all know that Free SHS is not working properly, and we have suggested that, hold a stakeholder consultation, bring parents, teachers, education experts and everybody, let’s identify the challenges and together let’s look at how we can make Free SHS more beneficial to the students and parents,’ he said. The Former President, also a Flagbearer hopeful of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), reiterated the call when he addressed Party delegates in the Binduri District on the first day of his two-day campaign tour of the Region to canvass for votes from delegates for the Party’s primaries. The NDC is expected to hold its Presidential and Parliamentary primary elections on May 13, to elect a Flag bearer and Parliamentary Candidates for the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. According to Mr Mahama, government had failed to heed to the call for an engagement on the Free SHS programme, ‘And so today, we spend money to send our children to school, and within three weeks, four weeks, they come back home.’ He said apart from the double-track system which affected the Free SHS programme and contact hours, the students sometimes went hungry, and ‘the quality of the food too is bad, and so if a child is in school and is hungry, how do you expect him to learn?’ He assured Party delegates and members that an NDC government in 2025 would complete dormitories and classroom blocks it started before it left power in 2016 to create space to accommodate students. ‘I can assure you, that in the next term of the NDC, all our children will go to school at the same time when school reopens, and they will stay there for two to three months like they were doing under the NDC, and when they vacate, they will all come back home together,’ he said. On stalled projects in the Region, Mr Mahama said the NDC was known for equitable distribution of development projects across the country, adding that projects that were started under the NDC in the Region and not completed, had stalled. He recalled that the NDC government started the construction of the Tamne Irrigation Dam, saying ‘We gave it on contract, work was going smoothly, now it has stalled, and that was a project that was going to bring more than 3000 acres of land under irrigation.’ The Former President said the dam project would have boosted agriculture and food production in the area, especially in the dry season, and generate income for the youth. He was hopeful that the government would complete the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakum stretch of road noting that ‘If they don’t, I can assure the people of Bawku that NDC will come and finish this road for you.’
Source: Ghana News Agency