The CEO of the Public Sector Reforms, Thomas Kusi Boafo, has said the Akufo-Addo led government has recruited over 45,000 Teachers to Ghanaian public schools to close the gap created by the expansion of the Free Senior High school program.

According to Mr. Kusi Boafo, the introduction of the Free Senior High School policy has resulted in an increment in student enrollment by some 40%, as opposed to the spectre of 100,000 students falling out of school each year at the Junior High School level in the years before 2017.

“We need to educate our people into willful citizens in order to advance the cause of our country that is why over 45,000 Teachers have been employed under the watch of President Akufo-Addo,” Thomas Kusi Boafo exclusively told Lawyer Ohene Djan on Pae Mu Ka on Accra based Kingdom FM 107.7.

Mr. Boafo argued that those who criticised the programme have been shamed after his government started implementing the Free SHS within eight months in political office.

He said the government was eager to ensure that there was quality and that was over 45,000 more teachers have been employed to take care of this additional number of students.

According to Mr. Boafo, education remains a top priority for government and said infrastructural facilities would be expanded in the schools to accommodate the increasing numbers.

However, he indicated that this is part of the government’s policy to have every child have access to education “and that money and the circumstances of birth do not become impediments to access to education”.

Moreover, he also noted this government has also enhanced the capitation grant and School Feeding Programme.

The intervention has brought huge relief to parents and created an opportunity for every Ghanaian child to receive SHS education.

Background

The Free Senior High School programme is a flagship intervention by the Government to widen the gates of opportunities to every child, especially those whose talents are arrested because of poverty.

Under the Policy, all cost barriers to education have been absorbed by the Government. It would improve the quality of education, address equity issues associated with education in the country and, importantly, ensure that every child acquires employable skills by the time they leave school.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on Ghanaians to disregard attempts by critics of the Free Senior High School policy and support it.

He said the policy is one of the most important undertakings by his administration towards developing the human resource of the nation, and that the programme would receive unlimited support.