Bolgatanga, Oct.18, GNA - The Vice President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, at the weekend said government had placed a high premium on all aspects of educational development and was leaving no stone unturned to revamp the sector to meet the manpower requirements of the nation. He noted that education was the instrument for maintaining social order and promoting socio-cultural, economic and political development of any society.
He said education also helped to improve the productive capacity of societies and reduced poverty by mitigating its social effects on the population, health and nutrition.
The Vice-President said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, at the 40th Anniversary of the Bolgatanga Senior High School on the theme: "Bridging the Digital Divide: A Challenge to Big Boss at 40".
He noted that the main focus would be on the implementation of educational strategic plan that identified new areas for acceleration, effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of education in the country.
Mr Mahama said such a plan among others sought to address the challenges in management, structure and content of education. He disclosed that at the senior high school level, government had reduced the duration of the four year programme to three years explaining that this was due to the enormous challenges the four-year programme had faced.
Mr Mahama disclosed that government had embarked upon a massive infrastructural provision in all senior high schools in the country and would continue to provide subsidy to senior high school students especially those in the northern sector.
He stated that government was working hard to make teachers' salaries competitive and comparable with other professionals for the promotion of quality education in the country.
He said government had taken the necessary steps to provide the needed support to make every student literate in Information and Communication Technology as such the teaching of ICT would be compulsory in the entire educational sector.
Mrs Agnes Atagabey, Acting Regional Director of Education, called on the students to emulate the good lives of their teachers since indiscipline breeds chaos, anarchy and total destruction of human resources and property.
She called on parents to be proactive in the discharge of their responsibilities to educate their children The headmaster of the school, Mr Dedacus Afegre, noted that academic work in the school was improving due to the commitment and dedication of staff towards school work.
He said the school presented 403 candidates for the Senior High School Certificate Examination last year, out of which 383 qualified for tertiary education.
Mr Afegre mentioned that the school was running five programmes which included General Arts, Home Science, Business, General Science and Agricultural Science.
He called on government and development partners to help fence the school to prevent encroachment.
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