Dep. Minister urges 2021 Presidential awardees not to rest on oars

The Deputy Minister of Education, Reverend John NtimFordjour, has admonished 2021 awardees of the President’s Independence Day Awards not to rest on their oars, but strive to compete with their compatriots across the globe.

According to him while it was remarkable to emerge as the best students in the country, their potential must not be limited to what happens in the country but must strive to become the best among their global compatriots by being creative and innovative.

‘‘Ghana is looking up to you to be the next person to bring out innovations and inventions that would be patented in your name,” he added.

Rev Fordjour made the call when all 36 awardees including four individuals with special needs called on him at the Ministry of Education in Accra yesterday.

He urged the awardees to utilise the opportunity to distinguish themselves and strive for excellence, stressing that ‘’know that what brought you to be the best and brightest in BECE may not just be enough to make you the best and brightest in WASSCE, so a lot more needs to be done.’’

The Deputy Minister said that it was important for the awardees to explore other areas beyond just their courses of study if they were to make meaningful impact to society and the world at large. 

‘‘It is possible that you will not just do Science and again come out with the best grades at the end of your study and the WASSCE, but your name will be celebrated as part of the people who invented a certain solution that addressed challenges in sectors of the economy, including transportation, environment, health, and education,’’ he added.

Rev Fordjour noted that,  the fact that about  90 per cent of the awardees were offering Science, Industrial Engineering and Industrial Mechanics was an indication of their critical minds as such the country expected them to lead in the transformation agenda.

He said with the introduction of the free SHS policy, the narrative where children had to truncate their learning at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level as the highest point of their education had become a thing of the past.

Furthermore, he reiterated the government’s continuous commitment to ensuring that every child received free quality education.

Rev Fordjour commended them for the feat they had attained and for being the epitome of the quality education outcomes that the Ghana Education Service, MOE and the government had been investing heavily into the past few years.

The 2021 awardees for the first time included persons with special needs.

The President’s Award was instituted in 1993 as part of the mechanisms to recognise and reward deserving students for displaying academic excellence at the BECE level.

BY CLIFF EKUFUL