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President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Frank Owusu, is dissatisfied with the way the current government of Ghana has preoccupied itself with Senior High Schools(SHS) education agenda more than the higher learning institutions in the country.
According to Master Frank Owusu, the NPP government has shown a lot of commitment and interest in Senior High Schools because it is one of their main campaign promise that brought them into power in 2016. Nevertheless, their pledge to Ghanaians of a free secondary school education to widen the gates of opportunities to every child after completing Junior high school has a dire effect on the nation’s economy. Yet, the government is relentless in its effort to making sure it delivers on its promise to the good people of Ghana. Hence, more freebies should be introduced to compliment the free SHS policy.
He recounted the numerous infrastructural projects undertaken by the Akufo Addo government in various senior high schools; citing his own alma mater, Prempeh college, as an example. He also made mention of GETfund allocation projects that have been tailored to suit the infrastructural needs of Senior High schools but neglecting most of the higher learning institutions in the country, with the last but not least on the list being the recent announcement of free electronic tablets for SHS students by the vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
“These I believe are all good initiatives on the part of government to promote the second circle institutions, but same resources and energies must be channeled into the various universities.”
As a student leader, he expressed his discontent in how most of the universities in the country lack infrastructure to accommodate the huge number of students who gain admission year after year into public universities, resulting in exorbitant hostel fees saddled on parents and students who cater for themselves by individual hostel operators.
“One is tempted to believe that, students who enjoyed everything for free at the SHS level are compelled to pay more to cater for what they enjoyed back in SHS.”
Moreover, “my greatest worry as the SRC president for this prestigious university(KNUST) is seeing many of my fellow students deferring courses due to financial constraints,” he said.
He therefore, pleaded with the government not to create such a huge disparity between senior high schools and tertiary institutions in terms funding. As the theme for the 2023 international day of education suggests; “Invest in people, prioritize education”
The SRC executive and final year economics student, Frank Owusu, in an interview with Broadcatergh.com, concluded by assuring all stakeholders of Kwame Nkrumah University of science and technology( KNUST) of a peaceful and positive outlook as they commence a new academic year.
