President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the Free Senior High School policy, introduced by his administration in September 2017 is presently guaranteeing that all Ghanaian children admit a minimum of Senior High School education.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “ five (5) times on following the perpetration of the Free Senior High School programme, which has guaranteed a minimum of Senior High School education for1.6 million Ghanaian children, I want to state, without any equivocation, that I'm veritably proud of the policy and of its results therefore far.”
Speaking at the 70th-anniversary festivity of the Tamale Senior High School (TAMASCO) in Tamale, on Saturday, December 11, 2021, the President stressed that the gests of advanced nations have shown that the most effective way to produce a society of openings, and, thereby, guarantee the future of a nation, is by investing in education and chops training of the youth.
“ There were some who described Free SHS as “ a waste”; some said it would “ destroy our Ivy League Schools”, and some indicated that the policy was going to compromise the quality of elderly high academy education. None of these have happed, and I'm sure they've eggs on their faces now, or should have, President Akufo-Addo stated.
Without an educated crowd, he stated that, Ghana can not transition from the status of a developing to a advanced nation, adding that “ it is the people of Ghana, Ghanaians like you and I, and especially the youth of moment, who are going to make Ghana.”
The results of the 2020 and 2021 WASSCE results, the President stated, give farther substantiation of why the Free SHS policy has been a success so far.
He continued, “ The 2021 WASSCE results of the alternate batch of the “ Akufo-Addo graduates” shows54.08 of scholars recording A1-C6 in English, as opposed to51.6 in 2016;65.70 recording A1-C6 in Integrated Science in 2021, as opposed to48.35 in 2016;54.11 recording A1-C6 in Mathematics, as compared to33.12 in 2016; and66.03 recording A1-C6 in Social Studies, as compared to54.55 in 2016. Lest we forget, the 2021 batch of scholars were the settlers of the double track system, which inspired a lot of defamation and unsupported review on its preface.”
Another suggestion of the value of the Free SHS policy, he stated, is the dramatic increase in the chance of scholars from TAMASCO, who have qualified to attend University.
“In 2015, it was 29.2; in 2016, it was31.4; in 2017, it was34.7; in 2018, it was 31.3; in 2019, it was46.3; and in 2021, it was45.8. Surely, Speaker, there can no longer be any contestation about the validity of the Free SHS policy and its consequential measures. It's working,” he said.
The President, therefore, appealed to all Ghanaians to “ abstain prejudiced, provincial considerations, which confer little benefit, and all agree that Free SHS has to be a part of our public educational armature, for, at least, a generation, if not ever. Our nation will easily be empowered and amended”.
Commitment to Education
Buttressing his commitment to icing the provision of quality, applicable education, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that the government has introduced the schoolteacher licensure governance aimed at professionalising tutoring, and bringing it in line with transnational stylish practices.
Therefore far, the National Teaching Council has issued some one hundred and twenty-nine thousand () licenses to preceptors.
Government, he added, has commenced the construction of twenty (20) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) centres across the country, with all twenty (20) at colorful stages of completion.
Also, out of the one thousand, one hundred and nineteen () systems, being constructed under the Free Senior High School Structure Intervention, six hundred and fifty-seven (657) have been completed, with some two thousand, seven hundred and eighteen () vehicles carried and distributed by the Ghana Education Service to colorful institutions across the country.
With the completion of nine Model Senior High Schools across the country being imminent, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that “ in 2022, Government will expand the Free SHS Programme to cover all first- time scholars in public TVET Institutes.”
He assured further that Government will continue with the programme of enforcing the colorful reforms and systems in the TVET sector, including the recuperation and elevation of specialized universities, elevation and modernisation of the thirty-four (34) NVTI centres, retooling of TVET Institutes, and the establishment of ten (10) state-of-the- art TVET institutes.
Source: Graphic.com.gh