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Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum says that the vision of the Akufo-Addo-led government is to ensure socio-economic transformation through education.
Speaking at the 2020 political parties debate on education policy in Ghana on Wednesday, Dr. Adutwum noted that trained and qualified human resources are the main tool for transforming the socio-economic development of any country.
This, he said, is the main reason why President Akufo-Addo has invested heavily in the education sector by introducing the ruling New Patriotic Party’s flagship program, the free SHS.
According to the minister, getting the fundamental importance of education right will trickle down to all other sectors of the country.
“Education in 21S t Century isn’t just one piece of the puzzle, it’s the whole puzzle, especially when it comes to socio-economic transformation.
“This is because if you do not get an adequate education, the correct socioeconomic transformation will not be achieved,” he emphasized.
The Deputy Minister of Education also attributed the sharp increase in girls’ enrollment in second cycle institutions to the free secondary education policy introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration in 2017.
She explained that inadequate capital is what forces some parents to abruptly stop their girls’ education, so the introduction of the new policy was the ‘charm’ necessary to cure low female enrollment in school.
“If you look at the gross enrollment rate for girls in upper secondary schools; in 2015/2016, it was 48.9 percent. But in 2018/2019 it has risen to 60.8 percent.
“This shows that when the cost barrier is removed, parents are now not forced to choose the boy over the girl. So you start to see that girls have the opportunity to go to school.
“So the free SHS is doing some magic when it comes to enrolling girls at the secondary level,” she said.
