The role education plays in the structural transformation of the prospects of any country and for that matter Ghana cannot be overemphasized. It remains the most powerful tool that can change the world as observed by the Great Nelson Mandela of blessed memory, the former President of South Africa. It is therefore not surprising that successive governments in the history of Ghana have made some conscious efforts to prioritize education and inject significant amount of attention, resources and time in order to help in the realization of the national aims and aspiration in the area of education.
That notwithstanding, recent issues and worrying happenings emanating from the Ghanaian education sector together with their concomitant effects on the ordinary Ghanaian student give a lot of reasons for concern. Of late, the Ghanaian media landscape is overwhelmed with negative reportages about problems bedevilling the education sector; which range from lack of basic teaching and learning materials like teachers’ notebooks, chalks, textbooks etc, to issues of industrial unrests, to issues of the infamous withdrawal of trainee allowance, to that of astronomical hikes in school fees among several others. The most current one has to do with the plight of our brothers and sisters who are schooling in the three regions of the north; precisely students at the second cycle institutions.
Surprisingly, this is a country where we make a lot of ‘noise’ about bridging the yawning gap between the north and the southern part of the country. This belief is what has culminated in the institutionalization of some conscious policies and programmes like the Northern Scholarship Scheme, Northern Development Fund, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) by successive governments in order to help in the realization of this goal and for that matter to help in narrowing the developmental gap between the north and the south. Education is undoubtedly, the finest instrument that can be used to accelerate the development of the northern sector by way of human resource development that would automatically translate in the holistic development of the north.
The National Union of Ghana Students has observed with great disquiet over the period that government appears to have shirked its primary responsibility to seriously meet the educational needs of northern students who are relatively ‘less privilege’ than their counterparts in the south. As we speak, public second cycle institutions countrywide are supposed to resume from the Christmas cum New Year holidays on Monday, 13th January, 2014 to begin the second term of the academic 2013/2014 academic year except for secondary schools in the three northern regions, who still do not know when they would be reopening.
This is because the school authorities cannot cater for their feeding expenses any longer because government hasn’t provided them with the feeding subvention or grants with which remains in arrears for the past two terms as reported by the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) to enable them meet their liabilities. They contend that their creditors and suppliers of foodstuff have been pursuing them for their monies and some even threaten them with legal suit to claim what is legitimately due them. How more disgusting could the situation be?
It is no more news worthy nowadays to hear of this problem in the Ghanaian educational milieu; because it happens almost every term when schools are about to resume. Whilst the northern student is compelled to remain in the house as a result of government’s failure to release feeding subvention, his/her counterpart in the south and well endowed schools is enjoying the luxury of uninterrupted academic season; yet they are all expected to write the same exams and marked with the same marking scheme. How do we expect them to pass as their southern colleagues?
Do we really care about the future of these students in view of the fact that government and those who matter are doing very little or nothing at all to nib this canker in the bad? For how long would the innocent and ordinary Ghanaian student continue to bear of brunt from the inactions of those who should have known better and acted? For how long are we going to sit aloof amidst all these injustices in our system? Interestingly, we are the very people who are quick to blame the students in case they perform abysmally in their exams.
On behalf of the students concerned and their parents or guardians, NUGS wishes to make a passionate appeal to the government which purports to be a listening and caring one, to as a matter of urgency, release the feeding subvention to the affected schools, which currently stand at 83 second cycle schools with a little over 89, 000 students by our checks so that the students could get back to school as early as possible thereby forestalling academic discipline in this regard.
In conclusion, NUGS wishes to state categorically and without any shred of equivocation that beyond this appeal, we are also giving the government a week ultimatum to respond to our legitimate request with alacrity; else we would be reluctantly but justifiably compelled to advise ourselves accordingly. The students of this country have been taken for granted for so long yet continue to exercise ample restraint. We are sorry to let the authorities know that we are now gradually running out of patience and might soon be forced to unleash our wrath within the confines of the law so that our concerns would receive the appropriate attention and redress.
Long live the Ghanaian student and mother Ghana at large.
........Signed......
PRESS AND INFORMATION SECRETARY
RAYMOND AYILU KWOJORI.
(0240383605)
ALUTA CONTINUA!!! VICTORIA ASCERTA!!!
CC
ALL MEDIA HOUSES.
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