President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday presented awards to 36 students who passed with distinction in last year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) at this year’s President’s Independence Day Awards.
The students, drawn from schools across the 16 regions in the country, included persons with disabilities.
President Akufo-Addo, at the event, urged the award winners not to allow the feat get into their heads, instead, they should work hard to maintain the standards.
“Know that you can go as far as you want if you are diligent, hardworking, and holding on to a strong moral compass. Honesty and integrity are important values in any worthwhile existence,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo expressed the government’s commitment to allocate more resources to education to help secure the country’s future.
He pledged to widen the gate of opportunities in education for every child through the Free Senior High School education programme.
“Government intends to continue to deepen the education of our population so as to attain our industrialisation objective.
“This means there would be increased emphasis in our educational system on science and technology education and technical and vocational training,” he said.
The President announced plans by his administration to extend the Free SHS programme to cover first year students of public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
He expressed the government’s commitment to reform TVET, including the rehabilitation and upgrading of technical universities and NVTI centres in the country.
“These interventions are geared towards the growth and development of Ghana,” he said, and added that the government was committed to building a society that would create opportunities for its citizens.
The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum, said recipients of the awards were selected based on their raw scores obtained from the West African Examination Council’s BECE.
He commended the award winners and expressed gratitude to the headmasters and teachers who supported the students to achieve the feat.
The President’s Independence Day Awards, since its inception in 1993, continues to provide scholarships each year to young brilliant students between the ages of 14 and 19 from all the regions of Ghana.
BY YAW KYEI