“….I would like to show the direct line between policy and people; I would like to show how the seeds we have been planting last three years taken root and grown. Some have now become trees bearing fruits that are ripe for the picking and many more are fast approaching maturity, preparing to display their gifts,” – Prez John Dramani Mahama.
Education clearly seems to be the the key in President John Dramani Mahama’s agenda in Changing Lives and Transforming Ghana for the better, as he spent quite a considerable amount of time on the sector during his last State of the Nation Address in his First Term.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to putting people first, he revealed that a total number of 54,800 children in 4 regions have been enrolled into schools under the Compulsory Education program and free supplies of school uniforms, sandals and text books have been distributed.
“During this term, my first term as president, we have consciously developed strategies and made interventions to raise the quality of education by emphasizing its relevance to improving access and working to eliminate gender discriminations and inequalities”.
President Mahama revealed in his address that his government has worked to better trained and equipped teachers; thus due to this, Ghana has been commended by the UN for making the target of the Millennium Development Goals of achieving universal primary education with gender piracy.
He reiterated that “other important social interventions that are being implemented in the education sector include the issuance of free supplies such as school uniforms, sandals and textbooks….10,000 Kumasi shoe factory made in Ghana leather sandals to school children in need across the nation”.
“In the last year, a total number of 54,800 of them in 4 regions of the nation have been enrolled into schools. These are 54,800 children who would not have otherwise received an education. These are 54,800 children whose lives will now have much different outcomes as a result of this program”.
President John Mahama however indicated that it is time for politicians to walk their talks as words have failed to convey the numerous ways he has done to directly impact the lives of Ghanaians he is serving; he thus brought evidence of his words in Parliament.
“We politicians are known for talking plenty, yet the irony of such a stereotype is that in actual fact, words often fail us. We fail to convey the numerous ways in which what we are doing is directly impacting the lives of those we are serving and that is because, we say things in way that sometimes take the very subject of our concerns and turn them into object or place them in demographics or speak on them as statistics”.
“We detailed projects and proposals; we fight budgets and data, figures and bottom lines that can feel very far remove from the flesh and blood realities of the people whose lives we seek to improve”
“….I would like to show the direct line between policy and people; I would like to show how the seeds we have been planting last three years taken root and grown. Some have now become trees bearing fruits that are ripe for the picking and many more are fast approaching maturity, preparing to display their gifts. I would like to show how we are changing lives and what a better place to start than with education which has proven to be the single most effective way not only to change a single life but all the other lives that surround it”.
Despite that achievement, he recounted that there are still a significant number of school age children that are not enrolled in school; these children are now being targeted under the compulsory basic education program.
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(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)