By Godfred A. Polkuu, GNA
Bolgatanga,
Aug. 14, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday gave the
assurance that government will increase enrollment of students onto the Free
Senior High School (SHS) policy to enable every student benefit at all three
levels of SHS education across the country.
“From September
this year, all students of the three classes of Senior High Schools across
Ghana are going to be beneficiaries of the Free Senior High School policy
across and it will mean that for the first time in our history over one
million, in fact 1.2 million plus students will be enrolled in Senior High
School education in Ghana”.
The President
said this when he addressed teachers and students of the Bolgatanga Senior High
School (BIGBOSS) as part of his two-day tour of the Upper East Region.
He said
education was key to the future of the country, “I have no hesitation in making
it the central pillar of my government’s administration. It is better that we
spend the money on the future of Ghana than just consuming it”.
“Before I
became President, in my campaign, I said I was prepared to use the oil money to
educate our children and not to allow it go into the pockets of politicians and
civil servants, and that is exactly what I am doing,” he added.
He reiterated
government’s commitment to ensure that the Free SHS policy was maintained to
serve its intended purpose of ensuring that every child gained access to
quality basic education in the country.
He was
confident that results of the fore-beneficiaries of the policy in the West
African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) would indicate that
the Free SHS policy was good for the development of the country.
Dr Mathew Opoku
Prempeh, the Minister of Education, said the challenges of the policy were not
unknown to government and adequate preparations had been made to meet the huge
cost of the programme.
Dr Prempeh said
owing to the worst performance of students in mathematics, over the years, in
the WASSCE examination, mathematics revision books and other core textbooks
including supplementary readers were supplied to every student to help enhance
learning and performance.
“Very soon this
year, we are supplying questions and answers as model questions and answers and
chief examiner’s report to every student in the country, so that whether there
is a teacher or not, there would be no excuse for the students not to revise
and become familiar with the questions that had been asked since 1993 when we
started Senior High School”.
Giving a brief
history of the School, Mr Afalibiek Ababu, Headmaster of BIGBOSS, said the
school was established in 1917 at Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District, but
was relocated to its present site at Winkogo in 1975.
He said the
school in spite of its numerous challenges, had over the years chalked
successes in academic and sports both at regional and national levels. “Your
Excellency, the school is the regional model school for the Upper East Region.”
Mr Afalibiek,
who is the Vice President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT),
commended President Akufo-Addo for the implementation of the Free SHS and other
social interventions in the education sector, which were geared towards the
development of the human capital of the country.
GNA
