We will use oil proceeds to fund Free SHS – Nana Addo

The President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that revenues from the country’s natural resources will be used to fund the touted free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

He stated that its pointless for the proceeds from the natural resources to land in wrong pockets when his government could use the proceeds to educate and empower Ghana’s population.

Speaking during the official launch of the policy at the West African Senior High School in Accra on September 12, 2017, he explained that the country will be on its way to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal number. 4 which promotes equitable education.

“Instead of the revenues from our mineral and oil resources ending up in the hands of a few people, the most equitable and progressive way of using these revenues is to educate and empower our population to strengthen our nation. In so doing, we would be on the way to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal no. 4, which calls for inclusive and equitable education, and the promotion of lifelong opportunities for all. As co-Chair of the Advocacy Group of Eminent Persons of the SDGs, their implementation is a matter of the highest public priority for me,’ he said.

He said his government is removing one of the biggest obstacles that currently stands in the way of children.

“To ensure that no child is denied access to secondary education, we are removing one of the biggest obstacles that currently stand in their way: cost. The cost of providing free secondary school education will be cheaper than the cost of the alternative of an uneducated and unskilled workforce that has the capacity to retard our development,” he stated.

According to him, his government is lifting the financial burden off parents, as well as the heart-rending anxiety that accompanies the beginning of every school term.