President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said unequivocally that the free SHS (senior high school) program would not be reversed under any circumstances.
He said that many who advocated for a review were initially opposed to it.
He explained that, as far as he knew, evaluating it meant reversing the policy.
The President made the announcement during an interview with Nkawkaw-based Republic Radio 97.5 Fm in the Kwahu West Municipality of the Eastern Region last Friday, to kick off his three-day trip to the region.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, revising the free SHS policy will disqualify a huge number of potential students from low-income families, as well as jeopardize the program’s quality and accessibility.
Quality and access
He said that the introduction of the free SHS had resulted in major improvements in secondary education and that any attempt to evaluate it would jeopardize the policy’s access and quality.
Mathematics, Integrated Science, English, and Social Studies, according to Nana Akufo-Addo, have shown tremendous progress.
Quality education
Aside from that, he stated that the policy has assisted many potential students in obtaining quality education.
Reviewing the policy, Nana Akufo-Addo stated, meant compromising it.
Poor parentage
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“The first people who opposed the free SHS policy are the same people calling for a review but on the whole the policy has improved secondary education and made it possible for students of poor parentage to access the quality and free SHS programme”.
“I cannot accept the idea of reviewing the free SHS programme since that will deny more Ghanaians from accessing the programme”, President Akufo-Addo stated.
He stated that, while the pastors had good intentions about the policy, he was not opposed to what they were requesting, but he would like to know specifically which aspects of the free SHS policy they (the pastors) would like to be revised.
Illegal mining statistics
Concerning illegal mining, President Nana Akufo-Addo stated that any Ghanaian captured indulging in such operations will face a 15-year prison sentence to serve as a deterrence to others.
Later, the President viewed a number of local initiatives.
Projects inspected
They were the rehabilitation of the 35.50-km Nkawkaw – Noyem – New Abirem Road, the 33.20-km New Abirem – Ofoase Kuma Road; upgrading of 3.0-km Akoase Town Roads, Agenda 111 Ofoase Ayirebi projects at Akyem Asuboa and Asene Manso Akroso, Densu Ceramics (One-District One-Factory) at Boadua Akwatia and a new astro turf at Ofoase.
The President also made a courtesy call on Obrempong Dubin Nti II, Chief of Ofoase. He was overjoyed by the President’s visit and thanked him for providing Ofoase with new astro turf.
He stated that the area has seen extraordinary infrastructure development, such as classrooms and decent roads, during the Akufo-Addo government.
Obrempong Nti, therefore, appealed to the President to construct a standard stadium for the area.
SOURCE: GRAPHICONLINE
