Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday handed over 100 buses to some selected senior high schools (SHSs) in the North Eastern, Northern, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, Oti, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions.
This was partly in fulfillment of President Akufo-Addo’s commitment not only to increase access but also to ensure the provision of complementary resources to help deliver quality education to Ghanaians through the Free SHS policy which has seen about 1.2 million children in secondary schools.
Presenting the buses on behalf of the President at the State House yesterday, Dr. Bawumia said, “The President believes the significant educational reforms that his government has rolled out since 2017 will come to nothing if we do not provide the necessary logistical support for our schools to run effectively as they deliver their mandate for the Ghanaian child.”
“Our schools have various challenges in the discharge of their administrative functions, and these vehicles, I am sure, will go a long way to help address some of these challenges,” he added.
In the past, vehicles were procured by the Ministry of Education without any plan of how or when to pay for them even though they often put a great deal of strain on vendors and left the ministry wallowing in debt, but this time around Dr. Bawumia said the vehicles had been fully paid for.
The Vice-President commended the hardworking Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, and his team for their competence in the educational sector. Besides, he lauded the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, for his understanding and support.
He charged heads of the beneficiary schools to “ensure that the buses are taken good care of so that they can serve the purpose for which they were procured.”
“This government will continue to invest in the education of its citizens because it is the right thing to do. We will continue to invest in our frontline managers of our educational institutions. They are central to any educational reform we seek to pursue, and we must equip them with the necessary tools to enhance their work. We will not relent on this commitment,” he stressed.
Already, the New Patriotic Party administration has handed over 365 Isuzu Double Cabin pickup trucks out of a total of 840 procured sometime in March 2020 and distributed to all metropolitan, municipal and district directorates of education, as well as selected agencies under the Ministry of Education.
Government also distributed 493 out of a total 2,000 motorbikes to aid the work of circuit supervisors.
Dr. Prempeh said the handover of the buses was a fulfillment of government promise to equip second cycle educational institutions, and it demonstrated government’s commitment to educational reforms.
He cited the implementation of the Free SHS programme as a demonstration of the Akufo-Addo administration to ensure every Ghanaian child has access to quality education.
Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, the Director-General of Ghana Education Service, who took delivery of the keys of the buses from the Vice-President, lauded government for prioritizing education and showing a lot of commitment towards enhancing teaching and learning in the country.
Present at the ceremony were Professor Nicolas Nsowah-Nuamah, the Board Chairperson of the Ghana Education Service Council, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, and some selected heads of schools.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
