Accra, Mar. 01, GNA- Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, Deputy Minister of Education, has challenged awardees of the President’s Awards to be creative and innovative to be leaders of top inventions in the country.
‘‘Ghana is looking up to you to be the next person to bring out inventions that would be patented in your name,’’ he said.
Rev Ntim Fordjour said this when 36 students who emerged as the overall best students in the 2020 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) paid a courtesy call on the Ministry in Accra, ahead of the President’s Independence Day Awards.
The President’s Independence Day Awards was initiated in 1993 to recognise and reward deserving students for displaying academic excellence at the BECE.
It provides scholarships annually to brilliant young students between the ages of 14 and 19 from all the regions of the country.
Rev Ntim Fordjour urged the awardees to utilise the opportunity to distinguish themselves and not to rest on their oars.
‘’Know that what brought you to be the best and brightest in BECE may not just be enough to make you the best and brightest in WASSCE, so a lot more needs to be done.’’
‘‘It is possible that you will not just do Science and again come out with the best grades at the end of your study and the WASSCE, but your name will be celebrated as part of the people who invented a certain solution that addressed challenges in sectors of the economy, including transportation, environment, health, and education,’’ he added.
The Deputy Minister noted that 90 per cent of them were offering Science, Industrial Engineering and Industrial Mechanics, an indication of the critical minds that the country was expecting to lead its transformation.
He congratulated the awardees, including four of them with special needs, a demonstration of the Government’s commitment to inclusive education.
Rev Ntim Fordjour commended them for the feat they had attained and for being the epitome of the quality education outcomes that the Ghana Education Service, MOE and the Government had been investing heavily into the past few years.
He emphasised on the Government’s continuous commitment to ensure that every child received free quality education and continued to the apex to realise their dreams.
Mr Ntim Fordjour said with the introduction of the free SHS policy, the narrative where children had to truncate their learning at the BECE level as the highest point of their education would be a thing of the past.
Miss Bernice, an Awardee, on behalf of the others, expressed appreciation to the MOE, GES, teachers, and sponsors for their support.
GNA