Former President John Dramani Mahama has served notice that he would ensure that students in private Senior High Schools (SHS) across Ghana also benefit from the government’s free SHS programme when he wins the 2020 presidential election.
According to him, “We cannot, as a country, continue to gloss over the huge impact and the role private schools play in the development of education in Ghana.”
President Mahama in a Facebook post on Saturday [March 14, 2020] hinted that he would also introduce some “tax exemptions system for certain educational tools and equipment, and tax incentives for private school operators.
He indicated that he said this on Saturday when he joined St. Andrews Senior High School in Assin Fosu in the Central Region for its 15th anniversary celebrations.
Below is a copy his post
I was at the 15th anniversary celebration of St. Andrews Senior High School in Assin Fosu on Saturday. The school was founded by Dr. Richard Asiedu in October 2005, with 25 students and 4 teachers. Today, St. Andrews has over 4,000 students with 152 teaching and 117 non-teaching and supporting staff.
My presence and participation were not only to celebrate the success of St. Andrews but to also acknowledge the individual contribution of Richard Asiedu to the promotion of education within the Assin area, and Ghana generally.
The theme for the celebration, “15 years of Perseverance in Academic Excellence: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects,” exemplified a man who has persevered, surmounted many challenges and never gave up in his quest to promote education, scoring a 98% performance mark in the 2018 West African Senior High School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
I announced plans to “finalise with the Ghana National Council for Private Schools (GNACOPS) discussions on how students in private senior high schools like St. Andrews can benefit from the Government’s free secondary education.”
“We cannot, as a country, continue to gloss over the huge impact and the role private schools play in the development of education in Ghana. I am personally committed to enabling a partnership with the Council for Private Schools that is mutually beneficial to them and the State. This will include among others a tax exemptions system for certain educational tools and equipment, and tax incentives for private school operators.”
