Napo receiving his plaque
The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, says without quality education for school-going children, who are the future leaders of the state, the country cannot be self-reliant.
In this regard, he stressed the need for the country to invest in quality education to create proper human resource base for rapid transformation of the country.
“Ghana cannot grow and create decent employment opportunities without investing in quality education, because education is the lifeblood of development and prosperity,” the minister emphasized.
According to him, Ghana’s hopes of creating a robust economy to create wealth for its citizenry cannot be easily realized if the country’s human resource is developed through proper education.
“There is the need for the country to focus effectively on educating the youth so that they (youth) would grow to become influential people in future,” he added.
The minister, who is affectionately called ‘Napo,’ made the remarks while speaking on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the World Innovation Summit on Education (WISE).
The event was themed, ‘Unlocking the World’s Potential; Leading and Innovating for Quality Education in Africa.’
It was organized by the Qatar Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that focuses on education, research and community development.
The summit, which was massively patronized, is aimed at finding new ways to empower the youth to lead and innovate.
The Education Minister stated that considering Ghana’s huge natural and human resources, it’s unacceptable for the country to wholly depend on foreign assistance in order to meet its needs.
He stated that the time has come for the country to solve its problems and develop, commending President Akufo-Addo for providing outstanding leadership that would eventually develop Ghana.
“A leader is supposed to inspire and lead his people with vision, and that is exactly what President Akufo-Addo is doing currently by focusing the Ghana Beyond Aid vision, because we cannot remain a beggar nation dependent on the charity of others,” he stated.
Ghana, he said, aspires to grow its economy in order to generate additional revenue to create the fiscal space for investment in areas such as education and skills training.
“With a robust economy, it would be possible to wean ourselves off foreign aid and rely more on our internally generated funds to power our development agenda,” he said.
“We cannot build a country on cynicism and pessimism.”
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi