I’ll cooperate with teacher unions to improve education – Mahama

Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama as part of his effort to enhance the country’s education says he will collaborate with teacher unions to develop effective policies for the education sector.

Speaking to teacher unions in Accra, the former president said his government training more teachers in major local languages would adopt a national language as a medium of instruction from Kindergarten to basic school level.

“My administration will focus on adopting ‘first language’ as a medium of instruction from KG to Basic 3 and training more teachers in major local languages to facilitate teaching and learning at the basic levels,” Mahama told the unions.

The flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) also said his next administration will build more libraries and provide textbooks for all basic schools to encourage reading at the basic level.

He said timely disbursement of the capitation grant to education directorates and schools will be a priority, as well as removing the capping and collateralisation of the GETFund and resuming the free sanitary pad distribution policy.

“I will prioritise the revival of abandoned Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the E-blocks in our education infrastructure drive to decongest schools and improve the quality of education,” Mr John noted

He added, “We also plan to review and improve the implementation of the Free SHS policy, resolve its associated challenges and mainstream TVET and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in all secondary schools.”

In a related development, John Dramani Mahama if elected president in the December 7, 2024 election has said to review and improve the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy and resolve its associated challenges. 

To address the Free SHS programme challenges, he said that he is going to conduct an educational reform in his first 100 days in office and the integral role of teachers in national policy reforms, should he win this year’s elections.

“We also plan to review and improve the implementation of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy, resolve its associated challenges, and mainstream TVET and STEM in all secondary schools.

These are just a few highlights from the productive dialogue we had. I look forward to further collaboration with teacher unions and other stakeholders to develop effective policies for the education sector.

Together, we can build a better and more inclusive education system for our children and the future of our nation. Thank you to all the teacher unions who participated and shared their valuable insights,” he told members of the unions.