Free SHS will build Ghana’s economy - Bawumia

Ghana cannot afford to build a stronger economy without most of its citizens being educated at the secondary school level, hence the introduction of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme by the Akufo-Addo-led government, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of Ghana, has said.

According to him, there is the need for educated human capital to help drive a buoyant economy. To that end, this government’s initiative of the Free SHS.

The Free SHS programme, which started on Monday, September 11 was launched in Accra by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, September 12.

Dr Bawumia, speaking during the launch of Boot Camp for 170 National Service Persons attached to the National Communication Authority (NCA) in Accra minutes after the launch of the Free SHS, said: “The President this morning just launched the Free SHS initiative which is a historic initiative. This initiative was launched in the context of the importance of knowledge in the development of the economy, that at the end of the day economists have come to the view that what really transforms economies is human capital.

“That is the key to our development. Human capital is what really gets us to transform and so the consensus exists that it is the human capital that brings about the technical change.”

He added: “The technologies are invented by people and the technologies make the difference so if you are growing an economy and a lot of your people don’t have access to quality education you will have a problem and that problem will hit you in the face much later on when you have a lot of social deviants and people who are not really fitting into the society.

“So the idea of Free SHS is being launched in this context of building a knowledge economy for Ghana because ultimately we are moving into an information technology world and so the whole idea of information technology is so critical for our development.”