We are committed to building capacity of youth — Dr Bawumia

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has stressed the commitment of the government to invest more in building the capacity of the youth to enable them to contribute to the development of the country.

He opined that with ongoing investments in education and digital infrastructure in the country, the youth would soon be the drivers of a transformed economy.

Dr Bawumia,also advised young people to believe in themselves since they had the potential to compete anywhere in the world.

"We are focused on education as a country because evidence from best economies in the world shows that the one factor that causes technological change in any economy is the human capital.

“It is what is on our minds and not the gold, bauxite or oil that we have,” Dr Bawumia added.

Youth Day

Addressing delegates at this year’s International Youth Day at Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region yesterday on the theme: “The role of the youth in contributing to quality education in Ghana,” the Vice-President observed that investment in education must be done in a holistic and coordinated manner to achieve desired results.

Recounting the transformation in the education sector since the government assumed office, he said: “We came into government when education was facing many challenges, including access and quality.

“Many students had parents who could not afford their school fees, some students did not have textbooks, there were many schools where teachers were not available, training of teachers also became problematic because the teacher training allowance was abolished.

“Infrastructure was also a major problem, and this was what informed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision and policy in education,” Dr Bawumia stated.

Achievements

According to him, “we restored the teacher training allowance, issued core textbooks for the first time since 2007 to all SHS students and recruited 59,000 teachers since 2017, among other programmes to improve the sector.”

He said the government was also building school infrastructure to cover a deficit of about 804 facilities.

“Our government through the visionary leadership of the President, has demonstrated how the introduction of innovative policies and bold implementation of those policies can transform our education system,” he added.

Highlighting the potential of the Ghanaian youth, Dr Bawumia cited students of Mamfe Methodist SHS who recently won a senior robotics competition in the United States of America (USA) and said “as Ghanaian students, you are as bright and intelligent as other students anywhere in the world, whether in the USA, Canada or Germany.”

On digitisation, he said: “Today we have digital addresses, automated the issuance of passports, digital driving licences and issuance of national ID cards, among others. These are going to be major drivers of change in this economy in few years.”

The Vice-President added that the government was also pursuing the provision of free WiFi in tertiary schools in the country to enable Internet access.

Youth policy

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Isaac Asiamah, said a new youth policy that took account of current happenings had been developed to reflect emerging issues relative to gender and disability.

He called on the youth to devote their energies and creative skills into shaping their future and for the development of the country.

Commitment

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Mr Emmanuel Sin-Nyet Asigri, said the NYA was poised to develop a dynamic and disciplined youth, imbued with the spirit of nationalism, a sense of public service as well as morality.

He said a youth parliamentary model to strengthen the voice and the role of the youth, including engaging relevant stakeholders with constructive ideas, would be established.