President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated his government’s commitment to transform the country into an industrialized nation.
He said in order to attain this objective, the government is increasing its emphasis on science and technology education and technical and vocational training.
The president who spoke at the 85th-anniversary celebration of Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School (PRESC) Legon, noted that training students with 21st-century skills is essential in preparing the country’s future workforce for the 4th Industrial Revolution through STEM education, adding that the percentage of Science students in the various Senior High Schools, this year, has risen to some fifteen percent (15%), and it is expected to increase even further to some twenty-four percent (24%) in 2024.
“This is being made possible through (1) the creation of a STEM pipeline to increase STEM enrolment at the tertiary education level, through pre-engineering programmes, which will target Senior High School Graduates in General Arts, Visual Arts, and Business; (2) the operationalisation of four (4) newly constructed STEM Model Schools, and the conversion of three (3) existing schools into STEM Model Schools,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo added that “there are some two thousand, four hundred (2,400) students enrolled to study General Science and STEM in the seven (7) schools; (3) the completion of ten (10) regional STEM Centres to train a complete STEM pipeline from primary through JHS to SHS; (4) the construction of Model Junior High Schools to replace clusters of basic schools and equipping the existing schools for STEM programmes; and (5) the retooling of science laboratories (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology) of one hundred and eighty (180) selected Senior High Schools, including Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School.”
