"Free SHS Here to Stay" - President Akufo-Addo

By Rex Mainoo Yeboah

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says Ghanaians would again, entrust the New Patriotic Party Government with power, come 2020, and not the opposition National Democratic Congress, who are burnt at cancelling the Free Senior High School policy, if they won power.

He said "l know that there are people in this country who don't want this policy, who have been campaigning against this policy. They are dreaming that they are going to come back to power to cancel the policy."

Addressing staff and students of the Bolgatanga Senior High School, Bolgatanga, in the Upper East Region, Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo said "I want them to know that they are not coming back to power, and the Free Senior High School policy has come to stay.

"They still haven't woken up from their dreams; they dreamt in 2016 that they were on course for victory. They did not know that the Ghanaian people were no longer interested in entrusting them with power. They still haven't woken up from their dreams".

The 2020 election, President Akufo-Addo stressed, is going to give the Ghanaian people another opportunity to tell the opposition NDC that "they live in another world and we the people of Ghana also live in another world."

To the critics of the policy, he stated that the most effective answer would be for SHS 3 students, who would be sitting for next year's WASSCE, to put up a stellar performance in their examination.

"I am confident that the results of those exams next year are going to show that this policy is a good policy for our development. The policy is in your hands and you can demonstrate the quality of the education that you have received by the quality of the results of next year's exams.

I have confidence that the result will be positive and everyone will say, 'Yes!, it was a good idea to go down this road. Our young men and women are benefiting, and this is the way to go for progress and development," President Akufo-Addo added.

Addressing the concerns of the school, the President indicated that, within the next two weeks, the award of the contract for a new dormitory block and a new classroom will be awarded.

"Some of the things that he wants to have done are going to be the responsibility of the Minister for Education, and that is why he came down today. The bus is the concern of Mr President and that is my personal commitment. Big Boss, very soon, you will get a new bus," the President said, to a rapturous applause from the students.

President Akufo-Addo indicated that, for the first time in the nation's history, over 1.2 million students will be enrolled in Free Senior High school education in Ghana as students from SHS 1 to SHS would be beneficiaries of the Free Senior High School policy across Ghana, from September, 2019.

"These figures have never ever been attained in the history of our country. The Minister for Education has said that enrollment in our senior high schools has gone up by 50% since the policy was introduced and this policy has come to stay," he added.

President Akufo-Addo said his government preferred spending a sizable amount of state resources on education as "it is better that we spend the money on the future of Ghana, rather than just consuming it and 'chopping' the money amongst ourselves.

The President said before he became President, he had campaigned that "l was prepared to use the oil money to educate our children and not to allow it to go into the pockets of politicians and civil servants, and that is exactly what I am doing."

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