According to the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the implementation of the free SHS policy has resulted in a shortage of young girls who would previously have worked as housemaids in the homes of affluent families, primarily in cities, due to their parent’s inability to pay for their secondary school education.
“In fact, when we implemented free SHS, a lot of middle-class families in Accra and other cities were finding it difficult to find house helps because the parents of the girls came for them and took them to school” he stated.
According to the Vice President, young girls account for half of the 400,000 rise in SHS enrolment since the implementation of the free SHS program.
He said his situation increased the search for housemaids as the existing ones have left for school in the past four years.
“Free SHS has been beneficial especially to the girl child” he stressed.
Speaking as a guest speaker at the University of Ghana Business School’s opening of the Konkomba Education Endowment Fund- KEEF, Dr. Bawumia said that the government’s investment in the education sector is the result of a purposeful endeavor to establish a wealth of human resources.
“Africa is the continent with the fastest-growing youth population and they are the potential of the future”
He added that when the NPP administration took over, many parents were unable to pay school fees for their children, particularly girls.
He went on to say that if President Akufo Addo had listened to the initiative’s detractors, many students would not have completed secondary school.
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