Ghana obtained its independence in 1957. The new government of Nkrumah described education as the key to the future and announced a high-level university providing an "African point of view", backed by a free universal basic education. In 1961, the Education Act introduced the principle of free and compulsory primary education, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology was established. As a result, the enrollment almost doubled the next year. This sudden expansion was, however, hard to handle; Ghana quickly fell short of trained teachers and the quality of the curriculum (specifically in English and Mathematics) was questioned. The fall of Nkrumah in 1966 was followed by stronger criticisms toward the expansion of education at the cost of quality. Despite the rapid increase of school infrastructure, enrollment slowly declined until 1973. The year 1974 saw attempts at reforms. Following the Dozbo committee report, they followed two goals: reducing the length of pre-tertiary education (which led to the creation of a primary/juinor/senior school system) and modifying programmes to promote more practical lessons at school. These reforms were only partially implemented due to financial limitations and political instability. The country's economic situation worsened at the beginning of the 1980s. Suffering an economic downturn, the country was failing at solving the deficit of teachers, maintaining school infrastructure, and convincing parents to send their children into school instead of the workforce. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) dropped sharper in response, falling below 70% in 1985.