Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has indicated that despite the current crisis facing the country, the economy is on track as the government is rolling out more social intervention programmes across board.
According to him, the challenges being witnessed in the economy were short- term for which reason the country could not afford to sacrifice the common vision due to short-term economic pressures.
He explained that “The proponents of expenditure cuts point to the economy and argues that the economy cannot support more critical social intervention programs in our society”.
The Vice President said this in a statement read on his behalf by the Senior Advisor to the President, Yaw Osafo Maafo at the opening ceremony of the National Education Week held in Accra.
In his speech, he pointed out that the monies spent on these interventions should be abolished with monies used on them invested in other things.
The Vice President said that the “debate should not be whether our public expenditure was too high or too low but must be whether or not these programs contributed to the welfare of Ghanaians and were essential for our national transformation.”
“Despite the successes chalked in the educational sector there were still areas unshaken, hence, the government would continue to deepen access to quality Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) education across all levels in all regions and roll out communities of excellence programs across the country,” Dr. Bawumia said.
The Vice President further noted that the government would also ensure that all children acquired literacy and numeracy skills at grade four and provide opportunities for out-of-school children to access basic education and consolidation of free SHS to include free Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET).
He said, “Expand access to tertiary education in all regions, improve learning outcomes across all levels and expand access to teacher trainee education”.
-BY Daniel Bampoe