Prof. Kwesi Yankah (right), Minister of State In-Charge of Tertiary Education, presenting keys for the vehicles to Madam Marian Esi Jackson, Headmistress of St. Rose’s Senior High School, Akwatia.
The Government of Ghana has through the Ministry of Education, distributed 196 pick-up vehicles to Senior High Schools in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions.
About 119 of the vehicles were handed to SHSs in the Ashanti Region.
The remaining 77 were handed over to SHSs in the Eastern Region.
Delivering a keynote remark to hand over the vehicles on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, at the forecourt of Parliament House in Accra, the Minister of State in-charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, said soon, a total of 1,500 motorbikes will be distributed to circuit supervisors to aid their supervisory work.
Also, he said 45 Technical and Vocational Education Institutions in the country were to get one pickup each.
He urged those who were given responsibility for the donated vehicles to ensure that they were taken good care of so that they can serve the purpose for which they were procured.
“It is your duty to ensure that they are put to good use and not misused,” he said, before the keys to the pickup for St. Rose’s Senior High, Akwatia, to mark the symbolic handing over of the remaining vehicles to the other schools.
According to him, Government will continue to invest in the education of its citizens “because it is the right thing to do.”
He stressed that “we will continue to invest in the frontline managers of our educational institutions because they are central to any education reform we seek to pursue, and we must equip them with the necessary tools to enhance their work to enable them deliver their mandate in a more efficient manner, responsive to the needs and challenges of the 21st century. We will not relent on this commitment.”
According to him, “President Akufo-Addo’s government has always been of the firm view that if this nation is to make any headway in its quest for industrial development and self-sustenance, then we must pay particular attention to the education of its citizens.”
He added that “this is what drives this government’s commitment to the education sector, to ensure that every Ghanaian child has the opportunity of quality education, no matter their family circumstances.”
“Our Free SHS programme is hinged on this core belief and vision, that barrier-free access is particularly important in the drive towards an educated population. It is a matter of great satisfaction to note that the implementation of this policy has been successful, under the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh. Over the last three years since the implementation of the programme, the total population of our senior high school stands at over 1.2 million children, a huge jump over the figure of 800,000 just before the policy was rolled out. This is no mean achievement,” he said.
The Ministry of Education pledged to continue working together with its implementing Agencies, especially the Ghana Education Service, to ensure that the necessary policies and projects, that ultimately aim at ensuring the promotion and development of the Education Sector are effected.
Meanwhile, National President of CHASS, Alhaji Abubakar, on behalf of all the beneficiary schools thanked the Government of Ghana for the support.
He assured that the vehicles would be well taken care of to ensure the deliver the desired results, intimating that lack of logistics had been a major hurdle to ensuring quality education and smooth movement education workers in the past.
By Melvin Tarlue