The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has claimed that the government’s policy of providing free tablets to senior high school students is a vote buying tactic to win the 2024 elections.
He made this statement during a public lecture at Wisconsin International University College on Wednesday, April 4, 2024.
The former President stressed that the country’s education sector has been neglected and failed to provide the needed learning materials to basic schools due to government’s interest in providing tablets to SHS students.
“You bring a new curriculum, the children have no textbooks in basic school for the last four years and you think that giving pre-tertiary students tablets is more important. Of course, everybody knows the political expediency. The pre-tertiary students are going to register in May because some of them will be turning 18 years and above, some are 18 already and they are going to be the ones voting. So this is a gift to entice them to vote for the current government”, Mahama said.
He emphasized that there are things to be done in the education sector rather than providing tablets for pre-tertiary students.
“Otherwise, if you are using GH¢1.3 billion to give pre-tertiary students laptops, our priority would have been different. Other things are begging for funding in our educational system than those laptops. But it is a bribe for them to vote for this government”, he added.