Vice President Dr John Mahama has urged students to study hard to improve their competitiveness in the global market.
He also advised students to guard against all forms of social vices, which would impact negatively on their studies.
Vice President Mahama said this in a speech read on his behalf at the 40th Anniversary celebrations of the Akim Swedru Senior High School (SHS) at the weekend.
He urged students to stay focused, be respectful and obey their teachers with humility, adding that, by being disciplined, “you can achieve your academic objectives”.
Vice President Mahama advised students not to allow the era of materialism to lure them to betray the trust, hope and faith reposed in them by their parents.
“The girls in particular should guard against the tendency of allowing themselves to be taken advantage of by their male counterparts or adult males,” he said. “Avoid premature sex. This can ruin your future and expose you to a greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.”
He advised them not to allow the “get-rich quick” tendency to attract them to drop out of school and engage in trade and other ventures.
Vice President Mahama indicated that the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had identified quality education, as one of its priorities in its development agenda.
In line with that, the government since its inception had embarked on the provision of massive infrastructure to strengthen the educational institutions at the various levels of the educational ladder to provide quality education.
He noted that in spite of all those investments in basic education, the poor performance of schools at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) lately was of great concern.
“While the Ministry of Education is working hard to reverse this trend, let me emphasize that there is the need to improve upon supervision by school administrators to ensure that effective teaching and learning take place in order to promote quality education delivery in our schools”.
Vice President Mahama challenged Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) to also support teachers in their delivery of quality education to pupils.
He indicated that the National Inspectorate Board under the new education reforms and decentralization system was being strengthened to work effectively so as to ensure high standards of education in schools.
Vice President Mahama stated that the training of a child was a shared responsibility and urged parents to step up the care for their children so that teachers and other stakeholders would also complement their efforts in molding them to become self-disciplined and responsible citizens.
Mr. Michael A.K. Danwono, Headmaster of the School, mentioned lack of infrastructure as the main challenge facing the school.
On education, he said since 2006, the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSEC) results had seen tremendous improvement thus reflecting the performance of students.
Mr. Danwono said with the 2011 results, out of 374 students presented, the school obtained 100 percent passes, and 287 had passes, mostly in A1, B2 and B3.**
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