Free education will spur more students to compete globally - Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

Deputy Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has admonished parents to take advantage of the government's Free Senior High School (SHS) to ensure their children got enrolled in school.

He said the programme was geared towards relieving the huge financial burden on parents whilst providing free and accessible quality education to every eligible Ghanaian student to compete with their counterparts globally.

He noted that the world had become a global village and, therefore, the policy will enable more Ghanaian students to freely access quality education to help them to adequately compete globally.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah, who was speaking at the Assin South District Town Hall Meeting, said Government remained committed to seeing that the policy worked for the over 400,000 students across the country.

In addition, he stated that the policy would grant enormous financial laxity to parents to have the opportunity to invest their monies into other productive economic ventures to better their lots.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah took time to explain the qualification and eligibility criteria for enrolment and assured Ghanaians that the initial challenges that characterised the Computer School Selection Procedure System (CSSPS) would be resolved.

He gave the reassurance that on no grounds would any eligible student be discriminated against whilst government continued to engage all relevant stakeholders to ensure its sustainability.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah asked Ghanaians, especially religious and traditional leaders, not to exclude themselves from the governance process but continually offer constructive criticisms, guidance, prayers and innovative ideas to speed up the process of nation building and conflict resolution.

He pointed out that the Government was a listening one with the right attitude and temperament to stomach all discerning views from all.

"As patriotic citizens of Ghana, it is incumbent on us to give strong backing to the Government as it begins to manifest its carefully thought-out policies to drastically reduce poverty and create jobs and wealth for all."

Touching on Government priority areas, he gave the assurance that the President and his team were keen on ensuring sound environmental practices, quality healthcare, security, job creation and youth empowerment as they worked assiduously with the uncompromising resolve to make corruption a "punishable offence" in Ghana.

Mrs Sally Nelly Coleman, the District Director of Education, explained the concept of free education and the gains associated with it and urged all students and parents to seek right answers from the District Education Office.

She charged parents to show greater commitment to the education of their children to enable them to grow into responsible adults.