Ahead of the commencement of the Free Senior High School policy from September 13, 2017, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has unveiled the Free SHS logo, at a short ceremony at the Presidency.
In the presence of the Vice President of the Republic, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia; the Minister for Education, Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, MP; Minister of State for Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah; and officials from the Ministry of Education, President Akufo-Addo noted that the coming into effect of the Free SHS policy is vital for the transformation of the Ghanaian economy
According to President Akufo-Addo, the first country in the world, in modern times, to institute a system of free public secondary education was the United States of America.
“They did this a century ago, at a time when their level of development was not very much more than ours. I hope that all of us in Ghana can see the connection between that event and where America is today, as the economic power of the world,” the President said.
Whilst acknowledging that in every new initiative, there would be “wrinkles and glitches”, President Akufo-Addo appealed for the unalloyed support of all Ghanaians for the policy, urging that the Free SHS policy “is important not because a political party has made it its mantra, and that the promise it made is being fulfilled, but because it goes to the heart of what we need to do to get our country going.”
The President continued, “Our country has abundance of talent and creativity, and of people who have all kinds of contribution to make to the development of our society. What we need to do is to provide them the opportunity to express themselves. And if that opportunity is provided, I think, very rapidly, we will see the transformation that all of us want to see in Ghana.”
President Akufo-Addo thanked the Minister for Education, and officials of the Ministry for the hardwork and determination is bringing to fruition the Free SHS policy.
Meaning of Logo
The Open Book: Represents learning that generates hope and optimism for a prosperous Ghana. The central symbol portrays two children emerging from a pleasurable learning experience as they spontaneously explode in joy. They are beneficiaries of a policy that lifts the total burden of fees from parents; be it fees for books, meals, use of lab, boarding or school uniform. These and others are to be enjoyed free of any costs to guardians.
The two then have a reason to leap in delight; but their animated mood also represents optimism for a brighter tomorrow.
The Open Book stands for learning that is made accessible, so others can share. It is the candle that ignites hope for future generations and enables students from diverse backgrounds to study towards transforming lives and uplifting their communities.
The Color code: Red, Gold and Green with black in parts, represents Ghana's national identity.
Access, Equity, Quality
The highlighted themes of Access, Equity and Quality underline the principles that drive the policy.
Access: The policy aims at widening access to Senior High School education.
Equity: This is fundamental driver in any social intervention programme. Poverty, gender, deprivation etc. should no longer be barriers to education. The government is eager to ensure a fair and just society where there are equal opportunities for all, irrespective of family circumstances.
Quality: The expected expansion of access to education can be achieved, without the need to compromise the quality of education. The package comes with qualitative instructional material, improvement in school infrastructure as well as capacity building and teacher motivation.
The free SHS policy adds value to prevailing free primary and Junior High School policies, to make pre-tertiary education a totally free undertaking that should eventually position Ghana to enhance the quality of its human capital to boost national development.
President Nana Akufo Addo says he is expecting a smooth take off of the free senior high school policy despite anticipated problems.
In two weeks, new entrants to the Senior High School will enjoy tuition and other amenities free of charge.
It will be a fulfilment of a long held campaign promise made as far back as the 2008 elections.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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Thank u Mr president but am holding my result waiting at ODASCO.change oo den den
indeed enemies are not God, if God says yes how dare you ndc says no. Now u see ur disgrace faces. it always seems impossible to u ndc until it is done. i thank God i did not waste my time to be a pooling agent. when we talk about change we mean real change but not circle interchange.....wish u gud luck mr.president
wasting time and resources on unneccessary Things the president and his vice should focus their attention on solving our numerous problems
Oh NDC people. When at all would you learn to be optimistic small keke. Oh daabi daabi daabi. You started by saying it cannot happen, after seeing that it is happening live now you are complaining about its funding, complaining about other problems we need to fix, problems here problems there. Haaaabah. You knew about all these challenges and problems of finding money to solve them yet it was possible for you to intensionally create judgment debts and pay for it and inflate contract prizes and loot. When it comes to finding money to waste through 5tee1ing then it is possible for you but when it comes to thinking out of the box to fashion out social intervention programmes that would benefit the poor then all of a sudden it becomes impossible because there is no money. Yet you claim to be social democrats. LORD HAVE MERCY
A big shame to all those skin pain NDC commentators who have come here to pass comments that indirectly express their desire to see this programme collapse. Some of us are not all that surprised because you did the same thing when the Kuffour administration brushed aside your pessimistic attitude to bring on board the NHIS. You kept on wishing the NHIS programme collapsed and even went to some of the regions to tell people not to register because the NHIS was a scam. However after realizing that it was growing stronger and better and many Ghanaians were getting on board, you sprung up the greatest 419 on Ghanaians by telling us that you could make the periodic premium payments of the NHIS just a "ONE TIME PAYMENT" Most Ghanaians fell for this scam and voted for you. In the end what happened? Ghanaians should have known that a party that doubted the survival of the NHIS even with the periodic premium payments could not in anyway fashion out a one time premium payment policy yet surprisingly most of us fell for this scam. I would not be surprised if the NDC comes to tell us that they can even give our SHS students allowances on top of the free SHS when they realize that the implementation of the policy is getting better and better and Ghanaians are reposing greater confidence in the free SHS programme just to get votes and come and collapse it as they did to the NHIS. Oh these NDC people, we are beginning to know who you are. All you want is power so that you can milk this country dry through sole sourcing contracts in the name of providing us with infrastructure, that is all.
Wonderful. Excellent. Sirs!, "There is no FREE lunch in America". Will the SHS "infrastructure" built by the previous administration be considered in this New National Educational venture? Or will the infrastructure set up by the previous administration be abandoned as usual? Will we have one-district one-free SHS? Or that was not part of the campaign promise. How much of the oil money will be invested in this free SHS? Will this program cover the whole of Ghana? How many jobs will be created?
In everything there was a beginning so I don't see why there shouldn't be a new thing. Our setbacks and biggest satan is our attitude. we straighten up every bottlenecks while we journey thru.Zechariah 4:10 says Do not despise these small beginnings.
Very hard to understand our leaders. It is time we start using our head. We are not even in the position to cary out a decent school feeding program, no decent computers in school, no good facilities yet we are adding salt to injury.
CHANGE HAS COME. ASEM PAPA BI ABA GHANA
At comment below: YOU ARE VERY VERY S.T.U.P.I..D my guy! Where there is a will, there's a way. From your comment, it as an issue of Money (where they will get the money to fund the Free SHS abi..??). Wait and see...the moneys that'll be retrieved from the Co.rr.upt NDC officials alone can fund SHS for the next 20 years! Just stay positive a bit, negativity is killing you..dumbass