Former President John Mahama has said that under his party’s $10billion Infrastructural Development for Economic Transformation Plan, education in the country will get a major boost to develop the youth in the country.
The former President was speaking at a rally at Adjei Kojo in the Tema West Constituency of the Greater Accra Region on Thursday.
Explaining the details to the electorate, Mr. Mahama stated the infrastructural development plan dubbed, the “Big Push” will devote a chunk of the proposed $10 billion fund to the completion of all abandoned Community Day Senior High School (SHS) projects in the country.
This, he said, will enable more students to be accommodated and thus lead to the outright abolishing of the nuisance Double Track Free SHS system being poorly implemented by the Akufo-Addo administration.
He further said his administration will ensure that all children go to school and vacate at the same time. The current arrangement, he revealed, poses financial and health challenges to parents and students due to congestion and cost of rents. He bemoaned the exposure of young girls to social vices and teenage pregnancy which is rife among the students because of lack of supervision in the rented quarters.
Mr. Mahama explained that under the “Big Push” plan, there will be construction of new Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools, where the youth will receive training in technical vocations and be ready to be engaged in their chosen trades where they will be needed, especially in the factories and road construction among others. He added that the plan will incorporate the National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP) through which the youth can undergo apprenticeship free of charge.
He said at the end of the apprenticeship programme, the government under him, will provide tools and equipment for the trained youth to start their businesses.
Furthermore, under the “Big Push,” as explained in NDC’s 2020 People’s Manifesto, there will be construction of new schools at the basic level. This is aimed at removing schools from under trees, while under-served areas including, Zongo communities will be given new schools. The former President added that he will ensure that under the programme, new directorates of education for the newly created regions will be constructed to facilitate administration of education in those regions.
In addition, the NDC flag-bearer said his next administration, under the Big Push, will build universities in regions that do not have any. His attention will first be on the newly created regions.
According to him, the NDC has always been the pacesetter in the provision of education infrastructure, hence the people must look forward to another big surprise such as the University of Environment and Sustainable Development at Somanya and the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani.
