Vera Wiredu and the GGLI members
Members of a group calling itself Girls Girls Leadership Initiative (GGLI) has heaped praises on President Nana Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
They expressed gratitude and appreciation to the president for “fulfilling a major campaign promise of the NPP in the 2012 and 2016 general election as a flagship policy.”
Addressing the media in Accra on Wednesday, Vera Wiredu, National Coordinator of GGLI, observed that the policy is a socio-economic intervention by the government which will enhance future economic growth, improve human resource base by giving children the access to secondary education.
“This policy is an investment into the future of the youth, giving them economic independence when they are made to acquire knowledge,” Ms Vera Wiredu noted.
According to her, “Our society will be transformed significantly when every child is given the opportunity to school free. It will lessen the financial pressure on parents and prevent children from engaging in all sorts of social vises and waywardness that have characterized our society. The free SHS policy will help change our society by reducing poverty as individuals will have a better chance to succeed in life trough knowledge and skill acquisition.”
Vera said the policy would not only create equal opportunities for all, but would increase the girl-child enrollment in schools and reduce child labour among girls.
She expressed her appreciation to the founder of the GGLI, Otiko Afisa Djaba – Minister for Gender, Women and Children Affairs – and women who have been very instrumental in calling for policies to elevate the living standards of Ghanaians in general, girl-child education and women empowerment in particular. “We are convinced that it will increase women participation in all spheres of life, especially in the socio-economic and political circles,” she observed.
She called on parents to be more concerned about their girls’ education. “When girls drop out of school they end up getting pregnant and become hawkers and head potters ‘kayayei’ at the time they are not ready to become parents,” Vera maintained.
For her the president deserves commendation for the bold decision to add to the NPP government’s earlier social interventions such as the free maternity health care program, the NHIS, LEAP and the School Feeding Programme.
She urged the beneficiary students of the Free SHS to study hard in school to justify the investment made in them by the government.
By Emmanuel Kubi.