During his 2024 election campaign, Mahama promised a national dialogue to gather public input on enhancing education, particularly the Free SHS policy.

The committee, chaired by former University of Cape Coast Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor George K. T. Oduro, has been given two weeks to submit its report and recommendations. Other members include Professors Goski Alabi, Rosemary Bosu, and Smile Dzisi, as well as Dr. Samuel Awuku, Kofi Asare, Stephen Owusu, and Inusah Shiraz.

Their mandate includes compiling a comprehensive report outlining key findings and proposed reforms.

Speaking on Channel One Newsroom on Sunday, Kwakye Ofosu emphasized that education reform remains a priority for Mahama, who is determined to address challenges in the current system.

“This is something that is dear to President Mahama’s heart. You know in the past we had a government that adopted intransigence and would not listen to divergent views. They [attack] critics and harass them and adopted a unilateral approach to governance.

“In the end, they left a nation with a complete disaster of an education system where so many problems bedeviled it that the objectives for which we even set up an education system in the first place could not even be achieved,” Kwakye Ofosu stated.

He highlighted the importance of a consultative process, involving various stakeholders who have valuable insights and knowledge about the education sector.

“Therefore, President Mahama is committed to doing something about this situation. But it is necessary from time to time to have a more consultative process and approach to these things because there are many outside government who also have ideas and knowledge about how things ought to be done within the education sector.

“It is a multi-stakeholder sector, there are various players all of whom have a role to play in fashioning out the best system that we can find,” he added.

Kwakye Ofosu stressed that engaging all relevant parties is crucial for effective education reform.

“For that reason, if at any point we have to carry out a review, it is important to engage all these people and President Mahama intends to implement the outcomes of the forum that will be held to the extent that it is within the means of government to do so. Otherwise, he would not have put this in his manifesto and he would not have campaigned on it over two cycles,” he concluded.