Curb corruption and invest resources in education -Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has said that Africa has the resources to finance and promote access to quality education on the continent. The president who was speaking at an international conference on education in Dakar, Senegal said that Africans cannot depend on other people to finance its educational sector.

He explained further that if African countries continue to make their policies dependent on other people, the continent will suffer when those other people change their policies. Adding, ‘if we make the policy for ourselves, then it means that at all times we will be in control of our own destiny’.

President Akufo-Addo led a Ghanaian delegation to the 3rd International Conference on the “Replenishment of the Funds of the Global Partnership for Education” in Senegal. He said even though the continent is grateful for the financial support from other sources, it is prudent to develop and find our own solutions to finance education in Africa.

Stressing the need to rely on internal resources to finance development, Nana Akufo-Addo said that the continent’s resources can be put to good use when corruption in public institutions is eliminated. He said, “Thabo Mbeki’s Commission that looked at the illicit flows of capital out of Africa, has estimated that for every year, in the last ten years, $50 billion goes out of Africa through illicit means”. “Can you imagine what those monies, if we had our eyes open, and we were not complicit in that illicit outflow, would mean for the capacity of our nations?” he quizzed.

He expressed the need to re-channel resources lost through corruption to other sectors, to contribute to the progress of the African people. This, according to him should help Africans bridge the gap and talk more about progressive education and not necessarily dwell on how to get funding.

The President cited the free Senior High School (SHS), stating that 90,000 more students entered SHS this year than the year before. This according to him, is a step to ensure access to education by all citizens. “We will be talking about the quality of our education, the changes we need to make to our curricula, and the emphasis we have to place on our history and sociology”, he added.

 

 

Source:myjoyonline