The ball is certainly now in the court of the beneficiaries of the free Senior High School project. They have the opportunity to make the best out of the opportunities being offered them by the policy initiative from the new government in the country.
The status quo could have remained with its attendant restrictions for those whose parents are unable to meet the high cost of education at the senior high school level.
It has been a tortuous journey to this goal, the hurdles created by persons who would have rather it did not come to fruition. Thanks to President Akufo-Addo’s prayers to God and perseverance however, their wicked ploys have failed to prevail.
Much talk has centered on the politics of the free SHS expectedly with little or nothing being said about the reciprocity of students at the SHS level in the form of hard work and avoidance of truancy and general lukewarm attitude to academic work. We have witnessed over the years the declining quality of education as evidenced by statistics of examination results and even quality of products of our senior high schools.
Considering the cost of implementing this ambitious yet critical project, there is no point allowing the business as usual module to hold sway. We cannot afford to have students put up lackadaisical attitude towards their academic work even as government diverts funds which could have been channeled to other equally important projects in the country to the payment of their education.
No policy in recent times has attracted such massive national attention and interest such as the free SHS. It has been long on the public radar, from the time it was mooted and the amount of time and funds put in it by the NDC to demonise and hang it, until its final debut. Ghanaians are all eyes awaiting the output of the project in the next few years.
All stakeholders, parents, students and policymakers have a duty to impress upon students to study hard and come out with flying colours. Teachers and parents, especially, have the onerous duty of giving off their best in the classroom and homes to ensure that the quality decline in the education sector is arrested without delay. Why should we not succeed? Dearth of funds is no longer an excuse.
The golden years of quality education in the country must be restored now because our President is in a hurry to alter the status quo. So we too must; as citizens of this great country where things must begin to work again after an avoidable lull.
Academic excellence cannot be achieved without the grammar school grade discipline of yore. We acknowledge the social media age in which we are and the accompanying drawbacks. These notwithstanding, the need for us to push them to achieve academic excellence must not be compromised under any circumstance.
The free SHS can only spawn the desired dividends only if all stakeholders succeed in restoring the lost discipline in our schools.