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Govt's intervention responsible for high school enrollment – Mahama

By MyJoyOnline
Politics Govt's intervention responsible for high school enrollment – Mahama
JUN 27, 2016 LISTEN

President John Dramani Mahama says government’s many interventions in the education sector are responsible for the increased enrollment of pupils in schools in the country.

This he disclosed were done because the government believes an educated and skilled human resource is the best asset any nation could ever boast of in the world.

“Thanks to the expansion of school infrastructure, improvement in textbooks availability per pupil, free distribution of textbooks and school uniforms nationwide, school enrollment has increased and the number of children in school at the basic level has also gone up,” he said.

President Mahama made this pronouncement when he addressed students, teachers, and parents at the 70th Anniversary of the Aburi Girls Secondary School at Aburi in the Eastern Region.

According to him, government’s focus on upgrading and expanding infrastructure in the country is premised on “our commitment to put the people of Ghana first and the implementation of policies that will contribute to changing the lives of our people and transforming our country.”

He described secondary education as the “main bottleneck” in the nation’s education system, noting “This is why the government is investing heavily in expanding this level of education.”

The President said his government has “introduced the progressively free Senior High School education program with day students.”

To ensure students in deprived communities benefit from this programme, Mahama said his government will be expanding the facility to cover boarding students starting August 2016.

Expressing satisfaction in the education sector, he said Ghana has been able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on the Universal Primary Education with more than 97 percent of children of school going age being in school.

Touching on the mean year in schooling, President Mahama described Ghana’s mean year of seven years as favourable compared to other countries in the continent namely “Kenya which is 6.3 years, Nigeria 5.9, Cote d’Ivoire 4.3 and Senegal 3.5.”

“Youth literacy which used to be 55.8 percent in 1998, 1999 and has currently recorded a huge jump to 80.5 percent in 2012, 2013 academic year,” he added.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected]

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