The International President of Global Peace Mission, Dr Samuel Ato Duncan, has urged all stakeholders to support the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy being implemented by the government.
He said to ensure the realisation of the right to education for all children and to create an avenue by which economically and socially marginalised adults and children could lift themselves out of poverty, all stakeholders must work to ensure the Free SHS policy works.
Dr Duncan was speaking at the 69th Speech and Prize-giving Day of the Winneba Senior High School on the theme: “Education for All: A Major Tool for Acceleration of Ghanaian Economic Development,” at Winneba.
This year’s celebration was organised and supported by the 1988 Year Group of the school, (WOSA ’88).
“Let us put all hands-on deck to support this Free SHS policy which is ongoing as it will push Ghana forward economically while lifting the burden off many parents”, he admonished.
Dr Duncan said in his bid to support the free SHS, he had supported lots of educational programmes and also donated GH¢100,000 to build a library and a science laboratory for the Abakrampa Senior High School also in the Central Region.
“The Free SHS policy is not for any political party but for children and unborn generation so let us give our full support to ensure its success”, he added.
Education reform
In his address, the Dean of the School of Pharmacy, the Central University College, Prof. Kwesi Adomako Ohemeng, underscored the urgent need to reform Ghana’s educational system to promote development.
He said it was necessary to deconstruct and reconstruct the foundations of the educational system to meet the specific needs of the country.
“We need to embark on policy reviews at all levels of our educational system while addressing the relevance of the curriculum in breath and depth in relation to societal needs and also check the effectiveness of teaching styles and modules”, he added.
Prof. Ohemeng said for the country to realise its full potential and take advantage of its human and natural resource base for rapid development, there must be holistic reforms to education.
“The current disconnection between our hopes and aspirations as a country and the value of education we offer, expecting it to drive us to our destination, is still very much disjointed and calls for a holistic review”, he said.
Tertiary education
Speaking on the relevance of tertiary education, Prof. Ohemeng stressed the need for a tertiary education system that would help address the current challenges arising from climate change, population growth, uncontrolled diseases and depraving poverty.
He said although compulsory primary and free secondary education would ensure that a large number of Ghanaian youth were lifted above the illiteracy bar, sustained strong and diversified economic growth would depend largely on tertiary education that was attuned to the needs of the job market.
The Headmistress of the Winneba Secondary School, Mrs Anastasia Thomford Okyere, called on the government to renovate the science block, home economics block and computer laboratory of the school.
In a speech read on behalf of WOSA ’88, Ing Godfried Mensah called on the school’s administration to continue to partner the various WOSA groups to lend their support in keeping the school in good shape.
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