Some female students of the T.I. Ahmadiyya School savour photo opportunity with the Second Lady
SECOND LADY, Samira Bawumia has defended the ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) decision to implement Free Senior High School (SHS) education policy in Ghana.
She was speaking on behalf of her husband, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on the occasion of the 68th Speech and Prize-Giving Day celebration of the T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School, Kumasi on Saturday 17th February 2018.
According to her, the Free SHS policy was in line with the party’s vision of making quality tuition available for every Ghanaian child.
Government, says Mrs. Bawumia, “is focused on its vision of ensuring that quality education becomes accessible to all our children, irrespective of their social or financial circumstances.”
“We believe education is the bedrock upon which every nation’s growth and development is anchored,” she stated, adding emphatically that “our human resource capital is our greatest asset, and we have a duty to capitalize on that for the ultimate benefit of our society.”
According to her, “it is this core belief that drives government’s Free SHS policy, which was rolled out in September 2017 at the start of the 2017/2018 academic year.”
The Second Lady explained that the Free SHS policy meant an increase in the number of children accessing senior high school education, for the simple reason that children who would otherwise have stayed at home because of the financial barriers to senior high school education, now have a chance to change their destiny.
She disclosed that about “90,000 more children have taken up their places in Senior High Schools than in previous years, and this primarily is because we have lifted financial barriers with the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy.”
Improvement Measures
Taking cognizance of the few reported hitches that have confronted the smooth implementation of the policy, Mrs. Bawumia indicated that “this means that as a matter of priority, government has to focus on expanding the physical infrastructure in our senior high schools in order to accommodate the anticipated rise of students’ numbers in the coming years.
Quality Assurance
“We are also continuing the physical works on the existing Community Day Schools in the country. Government is determined to ensure that the Free Senior High School policy will not compromise quality education in any way and is working hard to ensure that any challenges we face are resolved as soon as possible,” she stated.
She, on behalf of government, thanked past and present management, teaching and non-teaching staff and students of the school for their roles in “bringing T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School this far.”
BY Melvin Tarlue