A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Martin Oteng Ababio, has criticised the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, arguing that it has exacerbated the challenges of the education sector.
Professor Oteng Ababio explained that despite the increase in enrollment across universities as a result of the policy, the government has done little to improve infrastructure in tertiary institutions.
Addressing the media during a campaign outreach by lecturers to intensify awareness of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 manifesto, Prof. Ababio commended the party’s proposal to review the Free SHS policy.
“The free SHS has helped. But it has spelt the doom of the whole educational system. The number of students that are getting into the university has increased tremendously. Lectures have not increased. The lecture halls have not increased. The residential halls have not increased.
“So we are compromising, and I am a lecturer, we are compromising quality for quantity. In a sense today, if you come to Legon, you enter a lecture hall to find 600, 800 students in one room.
“That makes it very difficult to reach out to each and every one. How many essays can you mark a day? And how many essays can you give to a student?”