He said what the party criticized was the implementation plan that was proposed by the New Patriotic Party.
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NDC was never against Free SHS - Spio Garbrah
Ekow Spio-Garbrah, a former Minister of Trade and Industry has disclosed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was never against the 'Free SHS' policy.
Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah
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Spio-Garbrah said the assertion by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and some members of the NPP that the NDC opposed Free SHS is not true.
Speaking on Citi TV in Accra, he said the NDC only pointed out the inconsistencies in the implementation.
“We didn’t tag free SHS as something that is not desirable. We only said it was going to be difficult to implement. The NPP had a good policy, difficult implementation", he said.
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“Most parents thought they will implement it all at once in the first year. But they could not do all of them. They did one year at a time. So that was not a reflection of what they said. They even had o roll out the double-track system. Just to implement the policy. There is nothing wrong with that. But they could have been a little bit frank with us that this is how they will roll it out,” he added.
He further indicated that former President Mahama introduced a free SHS programme.
“It is always a good idea to make education as good as possible and progressively. As a Deputy Education minister then, I saw the implementation of the FCUBE programme which was available to all children. Mahama started a free education programme. The only thing is that it was not branded as such during his time."
Dr. Bawumia, in a town hall lecture had said that the NDC in 2016 run ads to discredit the Free SHS policy.
Ekow Spio Garbrah
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Delivering a presentation on “a case for 4 more years to do more for you” Thursday November 26, 2020, Dr. Bawumia said it is shameful that the party that bastardised the free SHS policy when it was introduced by President Akufo-Addo, will now be fighting for credit.
“They said it was a hoax, a 419 promise. They said if he had GH¢2billion they would not spend it on free SHS. They said free SHS would collapse the education system.
“The NDC run over 40 adverts against free SHS. But the visionary Nana Akufo-Addo stuck to his guns and has successfully implemented the free SHS policy.
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