The Vice-President, Alhaji Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, has given an assurance that the government has put in place modalities and systems that will help sustain the free senior high school (SHS) policy to make secondary education accessible to all qualified Ghanaian children.
He said it was the topmost priority of the government to ensure that every child got access to quality education, adding: “If you invest in education, you will unlock the key to economic growth.”
Addressing a durbar of teachers, students and major stakeholders of education in Tamale yesterday, the Vice-President said about 424,000 students, representing 94 per cent of BECE candidates who qualified for SHS, had been placed in various second-cycle institutions under the free SHS policy.
That, he said, had increased the number of student enrolment in this year’s intake, as compared to 74 per cent recorded in 2016.
Monitoring
The Vice-President, accompanied by some ministers of state, was in the Northern Region to monitor the implementation of the free SHS policy.
He and his entourage visited the Ghana SHS (GHANASCO) and the Tamale Girls’ SHS (PAGNAA) to assess the implementation of the policy in the two schools.
Free SHS, government’s priority
Dr Bawumia stated that the only way the country’s development could be improved was to ensure that its citizens had quality education to improve the standard of its human resource.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to fulfil its campaign promises, adding that the free SHS policy was a carefully thought-through initiative to ensure that it succeeded.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Salifu Sa-eed, appealed to parents to support the policy and encourage their children to study hard.
He said the pro-poor policy, which was one of the government’s cardinal principles, was meant to ease the burden on parents and guardians, while encouraging them to assume their responsibilities for social and parental control.
Mr Sa-eed used the opportunity to urge stakeholders to ensure that the policy was fully implemented to the admiration of all, especially those in Northern Region who were among the poorest in the country.
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