President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on the students of the first batch of the Free Senior High School (SHS) who will be writing the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination to rise to the occasion and shame his detractors who think funds are only being wasted and nothing good will come out from the policy.

According to him, he remained confident that the first batch would excel and shame his detractors.

President Akufo-Addo was addressing students of Mawuli SHS and other sister schools within the Ho Municipality during the final day of his two days tour to the Volta Region in Ho on Tuesday.

He noted that currently more than 1.2 million Ghanaian children are benefitting from the policy, the highest ever in the history of the country.

The President justified his decision for investing the oil revenue in funding the policy saying that it is better to use this money to finance education than allowing some greedy politicians using it on themselves.

President Akufo-Addo said in the 21st century all the developed countries future is being determined by education through knowledge and technology and we must not be left out.

He said the introduction of the Free SHS had given equal opportunity for the youth to pursue secondary education and urged the students to concentrate on their books.

President Akufo-Addo advised the students that discipline was key to improving academic standards and academic excellence should be the hallmark of the students.

He assured that all the infrastructural challenges facing the various schools are being addressed to ensure a serene environment for academic work.

The Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh in his remarks said government was committed to address all the challenges facing the Free SHS programme.

He said government had also given clearance for employment of non-teaching staff so that they can cope with the huge students’ population in schools.

The headmaster of Mawuli SHS, Rev Samuel Senanu Asieni, in his welcome address commended President Akufo-Addo for introducing free SHS which according to him has given financial freedom to parents.

He lamented that the high population of students is having a toll on the limited structures of the school and appealed to the President to come to their aid.

Rev Asieni also called for more staff bungalows to house the staff for better supervision during evening studies.

FROM KAFUI GATI, HO