Education to be made compulsory- President Akufo Addo

President Akufo Addo has hinted that Education could soon be compulsory from the basic to tertiary level if government is able to pass the necessary legislation to back it.

Making this commitment at a meeting with the Ghanaian community in China, President Akufo Addo said he is convinced that education equips one with the necessary tool to compete in the global space.

“My hope is that soon parliament and myself will be in agreement and we should even bring legislation that will make it compulsory for every child to go to school from Kindergarten to university level,” he said.

According to him, the matter is now open for a public discourse and nothing has been concretised but in due course, he is hopeful a law would be passed to that effect.

The President said once the law is passed when children are seen anywhere else when provisions have been made for them to be in school, an action can be taken against their parents.

The president also disclosed on a state visit to China that despite anticipated challenges with the yet to be rolled double track system at the secondary level, the initiative offers the best solution to the problem.

According to him, the number of those expected to enter the Senior High School this month has doubled to 180,000 and the system is being run without expansion to any of the infrastructure to accommodate the huge numbers.

“So, we are having to find creative ways of being able to accommodate this expanding population, but at the same time make sure that minimum quality of standards was observed,” he said.

He believes the initiative is going to generate a “much more productive educational system than what we have had up until now.”