Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia says the timing for the implementation of the free Senior High School (SHS) educational policy will not be in the best interest of country. According to him, the challenges facing Ghana’s educational sector is not about affordability but rather quality, thus efforts should be made to elevate the standards rather than making it free. The Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia made these observations in an interview on Asempa FM's Ekosii Sen programme Wednesday. The opposition New Patriotic Party's(NPP) much touted free SHS policy has come under scrutiny especially from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who say the policy is one of the many unrealistic promises being used by the opposition party to deceive voters. The educational policy which promises to absorb all levies at the secondary education level according to the NPP, would be implemented immediately it assumes the reins of the country. But the NDC argues that improving quality of education at the basic level, providing logistics, infrastructure and motivating teachers at the secondary level is the panacea to the falling standards of the educational system in the country. Reiterating his party’s position, Alex Segbefia stated that the free SHS educational policy of the NPP is not a “well thought through policy”. He indicated that as typical of the NPP, it would always rush to implement a policy but will not do the necessary due diligence to make it sustainable. The Deputy Chief of Staff cited how the erstwhile Kufuor administration changed the duration of SHS from three to four years without providing infrastructure to accommodate the students as an example of the NPP’s incompetence. He added that if the NPP is bent on implementing its supposed free SHS policy, it should rather eliminate the schools under trees across the country and focus on providing more infrastructure to accommodate the students. Mr. Sebgefia said government’s commitment to solving the problem of insufficient infrastructure in the educational system is incomparable. The presidential staffer observed that the NDC within its first term has put up classroom blocks, supplied free exercise books and uniforms to pupils and has created the right conditions for quality teaching and learning. The NDC man added that the ruling party’s promise to build 200 new secondary schools will come into fruition if retained in power come December. He stressed that Ghana is not ready for free SHS which will exacerbate the falling standards of the educational system. Alex Sebgefia is convinced that sacrificing quality for free SHS will be suicidal to Ghana’s development.