Nana Akomea: Students Indulging In Prostitution�Consequences Of Rejection Of NPP�s Free Education

�If you educate a man, you educate an individual. If you educate a woman, you educate a nation,� once said Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey (1872-1927). But it appears a headline such as �Stop Press! Cash-strapped Students Going On The Game To Fund Their Education� with their sly mix of prurience and moral outrage, are not in the least bit new. The rise in tuition fees, soaring living costs and government cuts to maintenance grants are all reportedly forcing more and more young women to turn to prostitution and other forms of sex work. It seems the vast majority of students, those who cannot rely on the Bank of Mum and Dad, have always had to come up with ingenious ways of making ends meet. To a former Communications Director of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) prostitution does not consist so much in the fact that the woman sells her body �deliberately�, but rather that she might sell it out of �frustration�. Nana Akomea has thus expressed worry in the latest trend in which some Senior High School girls are said to be engaging in prostitution to take care of their needs whiles in school. Recently, Joy News reported that young female students claim they are not getting the financial support they needed from their families to get through school so the only option is to engage in prostitution. The investigations revealed the girls break bounds from school at night to solicit sex in exchange for money. Speaking on Asempa FM, the former NPP Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South blamed the latest means by the students to pay their fees on the rejection of �free education� policy espoused by the NPP�s 2012 presidential flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. �The reason for this prostitution is because of high school fees. It�s sad our children have to go through this. When somebody said he is going to introduce free education, our people rejected that�and now see the consequences,� Nana Akomea said.