8,000 more teachers to be employed for 2018/19 Free SHS – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the 2018/2019 academic year is expected to see a double of enrolment figures at the senior high school level due to the free education policy.

At its implementation in 2017/2018, 90,000 more students were enrolled across various SHSs in the country, records show.

“This year, the number will be doubled to 180,000 more young men and women in our secondary schools,” President Akufo-Addo told a gathering in Janga in the Northern Region.

“We are also extending rapidly our teacher population,” he announced. “We are employing 8,000 more teachers this year to take care of this additional number of students.”

He indicated that this is part of government’s policy to have every child have access to education “and that money and the circumstances of birth do not become impediments to access to education”.

Government in the 2018 mid-year budget review assured that provision has been made for the programme for the first term of 2018/19 academic year.

The president was in Janga on Saturday to cut sod for the construction of the 25.7-kilometre Nasia to Janga Road, in the West Mamprusi District of the Region.

The road project, which is expected to be completed on July 14, 2020, will cost GH?26,847,690.40.

It will serve communities such as Nakoaya, Zuawlugu, Alavanyo, Sokore, Fio No.1 &2, Fungu, Soba, Tiya, Salugu and Chama.

President Akufo-Addo stated that the construction of this road will boost the production of staples such as rice, maize, soya beans, cowpeas and Sorghum, for which the West Mamprusi district is famed.

He added that the project, after completion, will help realise government’s vision of ensuring self-sufficiency in the production of staples in the country, and also help ensure that Ghana becomes a net exporter of food and other agricultural produce.