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Hi guys,
Welcome to my blog once again. I think today's topic is a special one. A special one to me; I’ve seen the free education thing happen and how it has been implemented. Down here in Ghana, there are different schools of taught.
Some think it’s a good idea but not just the right time to happen in Ghana. Others have nothing good to say about it as they have condemned it from the start. I think we can all guess and know those who condemn it with all their might; the opposition party.
I think this system of two parties dominating the presidential seat is going more harm than good to us. Even if the system is good the minority will still downplay it. Well, I have my thoughts, I think it’s a brilliant idea but I just don’t think it’s the right time to happen in Ghana. The economic situation down here is too bad.
Look at a scenario here, sometime in 2020 the president gave his normal Sunday speech about covid 19. He gave all Ghanaians a pass on water bills for three months or so. We were so happy, we all praised them but little did we know that after the covid and restrictions, we will end up paying for it. After the covid, they announced an increase in the water bills to cover up for the months that we enjoyed the free. So was it even free after all?
Free education started in Ghana when our current president came into power in 2016, he was forced to implement it as it was part of his campaign messages. So he implemented it. He implemented it for only senior high students.
Well, I can only say bad things about it. I know not a lot of people can afford to have quality and cheap education but is it really worth it to destroy the quality just for the quantity to go and enjoy something which is not quality?
We were in school when this system started and unfortunately, we were not part of the arrangement. We were the students of the previous government this we had to pay our fees. Well, it was interesting to see how they handled them. When it started they run it smoothly at least with the fees we were paying or should I say the fees we were paying were covering up for them?
My badge was the last badge of those paying fees so after we left we heard some horrible stories about the free education badge. So what happens is that providing exercise books became a problem for the government.
They banned the schools from selling any form of books to the students thus it was up to them to provide the books they wanted. Those books don’t even contain the necessary things that students need to make it through shs.
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The other part was the food aspect. I was told that it came to a time the schools only provided one meal per day. So the students were made to choose if they will have breakfast, lunch or supper. They were not being provided with 3 square meals.
If a student doesn’t feed well how is he or she going to study well? If you don’t provide the child with food how will he or she even listen to the teacher and understand what he or she is saying?
Even if we say we can implement it at a higher level, I don’t think the government can still handle it. Some courses cannot be handled cause the practicals they do are supper expensive and they can only be covered with the amount paid as fees.
I know we will love to have free and quality education but I am of the view that we can’t have both If we want free then we are sacrifice the quality of education.
What do you think about free education? Will it help or is it helping if you have some sort of free in your country?