A lecturer at KNUST, Currently in Germany as a visiting professor at Potsdam University, Dr. Charles Ofosu Marfo says procuring a World Bank loan out of which $15m will be used to fund free sanitary pads for underprivileged school girls is not a priority. He believes there are other pressing issues the government can concentrate on.
Speaking on Kapital radio on Thursday, the outspoken analyst says he is disappointed in the Education minister, Prof. Naana Opoku Agyemang for supporting such a decision and not resolving various issues relating to the education sector. He added that, most people have always criticized the president for appointing young people with very little experience but with the appointment of the current Education minister who most people believe has much experience has not led not expectation.
The lecturer further expressed his dissatisfaction on social media (Facebook) that all these are as a result of Lack of foresight and a clear sense of leadership on the part of the government. He says it would be better to empower their parents than to provide these needs to the school girls.
‘Very sad times indeed; we’ve given out handouts so much that now we’re going to borrow to buy sanitary pads for school girls? Now, how about empowering their parents and guardians to take care of petty needs like that? Oh JM … Lack of foresight and a clear sense of leadership paa ni’
However, the minister of Education, Prof Naana Opoku Agyemang in an interview on Joy FM has defended the government’s position that this is an initiative to reduce the burden of those underprivileged girls. She says other supporting documents concerning the new initiative would be released to clear issues of ambiguities.
Some people have described it as an avenue for corruption adding that it would be very difficult to identify deserving persons. Others have however lauded the government for coming up with such an idea.
Parliament has approved the World Bank loan out of which $15m would be used to embark on a project to fund free sanitary pads for underprivileged school girls. Implementation is expected to begin very soon.
