The Director of the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration of the University of Cape Coast, Dr. George Oduro, has said that politicians, as national leaders, are not helping the cause of Education in the country. He said the very problems militating against quality education in Ghana are very well known, however instead of addressing the problems, politicians do all they can to implement and fund their own agenda while they claim ‘there is no money’ to address the existing problems. Dr. George Oduro was contributing to a discussion on Joy FM’s Front Page programme Friday on government’s decision to cut the Senior High School programme from four years to three, and posited that there was no need in the first place for Ghana to have extending the duration of Senior High School from three years to four. He said the Anamuah-Mensah Committee on Education Reform made it clear that a number of things had affected the quality of education in Ghana and the best solution was to address those problems. Dr. Oduro said in 1974 and 1987, the same problems of leadership at the basic school level, lack of motivation for teachers and insufficient infrastructure that were identified by the Anamuah-Mensah Committee in 2002 as those militating against quality education were identified, but politicians offered ‘there is no money’ as excuses to sideline the issues. He said the only reasons why he would support the extension would be if the nation decides that there is need to hold students longer in school in order to delay their entry into the labour market or when the nation decides to dodge the real issues on the ground, describing the extension as a waste of resources. He said, “We do not have the reserves, we are talking about cost. We cannot prepare our headteachers because we say there is no money; we cannot support our teachers to develop quality because we say there is no money; we cannot ensure that syllabus to support the four-year come before the project starts because we say there is no money and yet we are prepared to spend money on an extra year. I think that really, for me politicians are not helping education in the country.” Others on the programme were Ms Elizabeth Ohene, former Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education; Dr. William Ahadzie, Acting Deputy Dead, Centre for Social Policy Studies of the University of Ghana and Mr. Kwame Alorvi, President of National Association of Graduate Teachers who all supported the three-year duration for SHS, except Ms Ohene. Listen to excerpts of Dr. Oduro's submissions in the attached audio. [You can go to our podcasts and download the Front Page audios] Story by Isaac Yeboah/Myjoyonline.com