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President Akufu-Addo
President Akufu-Addo

Elite schools to preserve 30% admission space to pupils from deprived schools — President

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said as part of efforts to ensure equity in the admission of graduates of public junior high schools (JHSs) to the senior high schools (SHSs), the elite schools in the country will be required by the government to preserve 30 per cent of their admission space for pupils from deprived schools.

Such a move, he said, would ensure a balance in the admission of JHS graduates to SHS under the free SHS policy which begins in September this year.

The President explained that “the policy that is being devised by the Ministry of Education is that the so-called elite schools in Ghana are going to be required to reserve 30 per cent of places to those graduates who come from low and disadvantaged backgrounds and locations”.

He said this at his maiden engagement with the media at the Flagstaff House last Tuesday.
 
Creating a balance necessary

The President said his passion for education was predicated on the unfortunate situation of quality education becoming class or group driven for only people who had money to guarantee the successful education of their children.

Such a practice, Nana Akufo-Addo said, would not promote an inclusive national agenda.

“We have to have a Ghana where all the talents have the opportunity to be able to come to the fore and, therefore, we have to create a system where opportunities are widespread, not one confined to a few groups or classes of people,” he said.

Some concerns have been raised over the mode of implementation of the flagship educational programme of the Akufo-Addo government.

Some people have expressed fear that the policy will sideline BECE candidates who fail to obtain specific grades.

However, the President, in clarifying that, said any student who qualified to enter SHS would benefit from the programme.

The free SHS policy was a major campaign message of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2016 elections.

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