Deputy Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Adu Twum, has said the gains of freedom and justice as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution hinged on the provision of quality education with all having equal access.
He said the gains would be eroded if children of school going age were denied access, hence, government’s flagship free Senior High School programme.
Dr Twum said this during a presentation at the first Volta Regional Town Hall meeting, organised by the Volta Regional Coordinating Council and the Ministry of Information.
It was on the theme: “Delivering on our Promises: A Focus on Social Investment.”
He said quality education was the game-changer for accelerated development of the country because that was the drive that unleashed the growth of countries like Korea and China.
He said Ghana was better than Korea, 60 years ago, but lost it in all facets of development, which was driven by vocational and technical education.
Dr. Twum said a graph presentation by the Koreans on Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio between the two countries showed that whereas Ghana laboured at 16.19 out of every 100 students, their counterparts were revolving around 93.6.
He said research showed it would have taken 20 years of preparatory works to implement government’s flagship Free Senior High School programme under that dispensation according to trend analysis.
The Deputy Minister of Education said transition from Junior and Senior High School was only 40 per cent, and that needed improvement.
Dr Twum said, but for the free Senior High School programme, about three million young people would not have been given the opportunity to school indicating that “we are not doing anything bad to destroy the destiny of the country.”
He made allusions that “credit belongs to the man in the arena” eulogising the visionary leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, inviting all to be in the arena too, for the progress of the nation’s educational enterprise.
