“This curriculum has drawn upon the best practices from all over the world, and will focus on making Ghanaian children confident, innovative, creative-thinking, digitally-literate, well-rounded, patriotic citizens.

“Mathematics, Science, Reading, Writing and Creativity are, therefore, at the heart of this new curriculum”, the President said in his State of the Nation address to Parliament on Thursday.

He said when “our children master the connection between science and their everyday lives, we would reach the stage in Ghana where we would be rid of the many diseases, borne of filth and poor hygiene, that are still part of our lives.

In pursuing these goals, we need to remind ourselves repeatedly that health is wealth, and it is only a healthy population that can make Ghana prosperous, President Akufo-Addo stated.

He reiterated the fact that poverty should not be an excuse for any Ghanaian child not to reach their full potential.

It, therefore, warms my heart that we are now able to say that education in the public sector is free from Kindergarten to Senior High School, and, that this year, legislation would be passed to redefine basic education to include Senior High School.

The President also announced that all was set for the construction of 10 state-of-the-art Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Centres this year.

The new TVET centres would be world class, and attractive to assure young people that they are not being sent to second best options. 

“For far too long, we have preached about the importance of TVET without doing very much to demonstrate this importance. We send or urge young people to go to poorly equipped TVET centres, and we are surprised that they are not keen”, the President said.

He said government was also bent on demystifying science, mathematics and technology and was building 10 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) centres around the country to provide support for the introduction of STEM into basic education after the completion of a successful pilot phase.

We can be sure, therefore, that Ghana’s young people will be able to acquire skills that would put them at par with their peers anywhere in the world, he said.

The President indicated that the importance of science, technology and innovation had led him to appoint a Presidential Advisory Council on Science, Technology and Innovation (PACSTI) to advise the President on how to infuse the application of science and technology in the development of the nation, headed by a distinguished scientist, Professor Edward Ayensu.