Revenue from natural resources to fund Free SHS – Akufo-Addo

The source of funding for the free senior high school education has been one of the lingering questions since government planned its introduction in September 2017.

Responding, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has explained that proceeds from the nation’s natural resources will be used to finance the programme.

Addressing the gathering at the West African Secondary School (WASS) on Tuesday where the programme was officially launched, President Akufo-Addo said: “Leadership is about choices, I have chosen to invest in the future of our youth and our country.”

“We have decided to use the proceeds from our natural resources to help educate the population to drive our economic transformation,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo said “instead of the revenues from our minerals and oil resources ending up in the hands of a few people, the most equitable and progressive way of using these revenues is to educate and empower our population to strengthen our nation.”

He said the move was to ensure that no child was denied access to secondary education and so, “we are removing one of the biggest obstacles which currently stands in their ways, cost.”

He added that “the cost of providing free secondary school education will be cheaper than the cost of the alternative of an uneducated and unskilled workforce that has the capacity to retard our development.”

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