The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has reiterated the commitment of his government to ensuring that the Double-track school calendar, which will be implemented in September 2018 for some Senior High Schools in the country, is a success.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “we are going to make sure it is a success. So, I am pleading with you, please ignore the Pharisees who are singing the ‘impossible’ tune, and stick with me. It will be a success.”
Speaking on Sunday, 12th August, 2018, at Mpasaaso, in the Ahafo Ano North constituency, after inspecting construction works on the 19.5 kilometre Mpasaaso to Wioso Road, President Akufo-Addo stated that when the free SHS policy begun in September 2017, the naysayers were optimistic that the policy would fail.
“The logical thing for them (naysayers) was for each person to pay for their education. Ghanaians chose to believe in me, and the Free SHS vision by the vote of the 7th December. Ghanaians indicated that they wanted Free SHS; that was the meaning of the emphatic vote I received in December 2016.
“We are not going to go back on that, not today, not tomorrow! So, whenever the naysayers come to spread their lies, hoot at them, and do not give them audience,” President Akufo-Addo added.
With 90,000 new entrants in 2017, and the number doubling to some 180,000 in September 2018, the President noted that “every child of school going age in Ghana will have the opportunity to go to school up to the Senior High School level, and I intend to keep that pledge.”
On the Double-Track System, he assured the Chiefs and people of Mpasaaso, that “I will never present anything that is not worth it to the Ghanaian people. The double track system will ensure longer contact hours, teachers will have longer periods of interaction with the students, and the numbers of enrolled students will increase.”
Touching on the Programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, the initiative introduced in 2017 by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, President Akufo-Addo bemoaned the low numbers of farmers who took advantage of the programme in the Ashanti Region.
“The farmers of the Upper East and Upper West regions have embraced it wholeheartedly. The Programme, this year, will cover 500,000 farmers. I urge farmers in the Ashanti Region to come on board, and, thereby, guarantee increased agricultural productivity this year.”
President Akufo-Addo, in responding to the concerns of the Chief of Mpasaaso, Nana Tabiri Gyansah III, assured that his request for the construction of a new police station for the community will be tabled before the Minister for Interior for the necessary action to be taken.
Happy with the progress of work on the 19.5 kilometre stretch of road, President Akufo-Addo assured further that “the work will be completed and the much-needed relief will come to this town.”
President Akufo-Addo also attended the Akwasidae festival, held at the Manhyia Palace, after his visit to Mpasaaso.
The festival, which is held on the first Sunday after every 40 days on the Asante calendar, gives people, in and out of Ashanti, the opportunity to pay homage to the Asantehene.
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