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No Ghanaian child should be denied secondary school education – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has said that no Ghanaian child should be denied second-cycle education, as it is a period in the life of every young person in Ghana when they begin their journey into adulthood and make lifelong choices and friends.

Speaking at the 70th-anniversary celebration of Opoku Ware Senior High School in the Ashanti Region on Saturday (3 December 2022), President Akufo-Addo said secondary education is an experience to which no child of school-going age should be denied access.

“Senior high school is an exciting period in every young person’s life,” the president said. “Apart from what we all take from our parents in our home, most of what goes into fashioning our outlook in life comes from the schools we attend.

President Nana Akufo-Addo at the 70th anniversary celebration of OWASS
President Nana Akufo-Addo at the OWASS 70th-anniversary celebrations

“It is the time we learn most of the things that we use in our lives. It is often the place where lifelong friendships are formed and an exciting time of learning new things,” Akufo-Addo said.

“It is an experience that we must not deprive any young child, whether from Kumasi, Tamale, Keta or Axim, from having,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Urgent need

“If we [Ghanaians] are to realise in our time, the words of the theme of this [Opoku Ware’s 70th] anniversary celebration, ‘Seven Decades of Leadership Through Self-Discipline’, then we have a collective responsibility to help guarantee access to quality education for all the youth of our country.

“When we do this, then we can … be confident of achieving the vision of a progressive and prosperous Ghana which animated the struggles for freedom and independence of our forebears, for which some paid the ultimate price,” Akufo-Addo said.

“We must have the belief that our nation can make its own unique contribution to the growth of world civilisation and be able to generate dignified standards of living for the masses of her people, and build a Ghana Beyond Aid.”

President Nana Akufo-Addo and Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the 70th anniversary celebration of OWASS
President Akufo-Addo and Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the OWASS 70th-anniversary event

Guaranteeing education

History and the experiences of developed nations, President Akufo-Addo said, “have shown us that the most efficient way to create a society of opportunity and thereby guarantee the future of our nation is by investing in education and skills training of our youth”.

“This is because it is the people of Ghana – Ghanaians like you and me, and especially the youth of today – who are going to build Ghana. Without an educated populace, we cannot transition from the status of a developing to a developed nation,” Akufo-Addo said.

In response to a request by the headmaster and the school prefect of Opoku Ware SHS, President Akufo-Addo pledged that his government will give a befitting 70th birthday present to the school.

“The Office of the President will also help to give an appropriate birthday gift. I think a new administration block will be such a gift,” Akufo-Addo said.

Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II

Brief about OWASS

Opoku Ware School, often referred to as OWASS, is a state-run, Catholic senior high school for boys located in Santasi, a suburb of Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region.

The school offers Ghana’s flagship three-year senior high school course.

The school’s curriculum consists of core subjects, namely English language, integrated science, mathematics, social studies, information and communications technology, religious and moral education and physical education, through four specialised streams, which are general science, general arts, business and visual arts.

Prominent products of OWASS

OWASS can boast of many former students who have served in high positions or are serving in positions of influence in Ghana.

Some of these are Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, a former deputy minister of state in the National Democratic Congress government of John Dramani Mahama; Kwamena Ahwoi, the former NDC minister of state; Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the current Minister of Food and Agriculture; Stephen Amoah, the MP for Nhyiaeso; and James Kwesi Appiah, the former head coach of the Ghana Black Stars.

Other notable alumni are George Boakye, the late chief of air staff; Stephen Alan Brobbey, a retired jurist, former chief justice of Gambia and justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana; the development economist, former director of the National Development Planning Commission and erstwhile MP for Wenchi, George Gyan-Baffour; John Kumah, a deputy minister of finance; and Nana Otuo Siriboe, the chairman of the Council of State and Omanhene of the Juaben Traditional Area.

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