I wanted to hear what Akufo-Addo actually said (on this matter) before, responding to it.
I disagree with the model he is touting as ideal. When public education is good quality, the rich and the poor both go through the same institutions.
There are many countries in Scandinavia, Asia, etc that prove this. To some extent even Rwanda does. And so did the Legons, Ibadans, Dars, Nairobis, Makareres – when these public universities were at their peak.
Education itself, then becomes a means for homogenising class differences at birth, for the future, by offering social mobility for the relatively poor.
Means testing enables this. A look at the histories of our more established schools, and of our original three public universities, illustrates this amply.
Many poor people, my own parents included, formed useful networks, and acquired meaningful experiences in schools like Mfantsipim, Achimota, WGHS, etc.This served them well.
It is the benefit means testing offers to school funding schemes.
When you simply say that the rich should go to private schools, you create a class society. Britain offers a great example of this.
Privatisation is not a cure-all, an elixir that always achieves optimum outcomes. Many times it is just a wishful chase by the equivalent of alchemists in our day.
The quantities are impressive on FSHS, the president must be acknowledged for that. What about the quality? The SHS system is creaking, and, at the brink of collapse. How long can this be denied?
The president is well within his rights not to listen to feedback, or to disagree with it. But then he must open up for debate. Where is the debate at?
Yaw Nsarkoh,
10 September 2024
