Fress SHS Is Here To Stay” – President Akufo-Addo
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has
stated that contrary to the assertions being made by his political
opponents about the sustainability of the Free Senior High School
policy, the policy is here to stay and will be sustained.
According to President Akufo-Addp, “the politically motivated
propagandists and naysayers, who, in the last few years, said that Free
SHS was not possible, and could happen only after 20 years, are now
singing a new tune. They now claim Free SHS is not sustainable, and will
crash in 5 years.”
The President continued, “Let me burst their
bubble again. Free SHS is here to stay, because leadership is about
choices, and I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of Ghanaians
support the choice that I have made. They recognise the importance of
the investment we are making in the youth and in the future of our
country. The investment will be sustained.”
President Akufo-Addo
noted with dismay that “I continue to be puzzled as to the vehemence
with which so-called social democrats oppose or attempt to undermine
measures designed to address poverty. Their demagoguery and opportunism
will always be exposed.”
The President made this known on Sunday,
26th November, 2017, when he delivered a speech at the 68th Anniversary
of the Prempeh College, in Kumasi.
Prior to the launch of
the Free SHS policy launch, President Akufo-Addo noted that available
data indicated that Ghanaian children were falling out of the
educational system at every stage in alarming numbers.
He
revealed that over the last four years, for example, an average of
100,000 BECE graduates, who were placed in the country’s public senior
high schools each year, did not take up their place.
“This means
that, in the next decade, at least one million of our young men and
women, without any employable skills, would have had their education
terminated at junior high school. It would have been too dangerous for
Ghana’s stability, as we would have been building a future of
hopelessness for our youth,” he said.
Such a situation, the President bemoaned, “was totally unacceptable and intolerable, and I was determined to end it.”
Touching on the teething challenges confronting the Free SHS policy, as there would be with any new, bold initiative, President Akufo-Addo said he was inspired by the famous Chinese adage which says “a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”.
“We have taken that
first step in Ghana, and we shall deal with the challenges. In dealing
with them, tenders have already gone out, and, soon, contracts will be
awarded for the provision of some 69,500 mono desks, and some 13,100
bunk beds,” he said.
The President continued, “Additionally,
tender notices have been issued for the supply of furniture for dining
halls, staff rooms of teachers, computer laboratories, and the provision
of marker boards for classrooms.”
Free SHS, President
Akufo-Addo stressed, will ensure that all of Ghana’s children will be
educated to at least secondary level, and money, or the lack of it, will
no longer mean a denial of education.
“Already, the policy has
led to an increase of over 90,000 children, who have entered senior high
school this academic year, who would otherwise have dropped out at this
stage,” he said.
Further, under the Secondary Education
Improvement Project, the President revealed that Government has secured a
$40 million loan from the World Bank for the expansion and upgrading of
facilities in 75 Senior High Schools across the country.
Construction works on the existing Community Day Schools are ongoing, he
said, adding that “Government will also upgrade 42 Senior High Schools
into model school status.
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