NUGS President, Dennis Appiah Larbi-Ampofo
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has appealed to the government to increase the development of infrastructure facilities in basic schools across the country as enrolment at that level has outstripped infrastructure.
The NUGS made the request when its President, Dennis Appiah Larbi-Ampofo, paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.
Mr Larbi-Ampofo said over the last few years, “as a country, we have appreciated when it comes to basic school enrolment. We have gotten up to about 95%, but we still have a critical issue in rural areas and that is basic school infrastructure.”
The government, the NUGS President indicated, had done tremendously well when it comes to senior high school and tertiary support.
On the government’s school feeding initiative, the NUGS President also appealed to the government to increase the amount allocated to the programme.
President Akufo-Addo, in response, said the request was appropriate because the country had seen a significant increase in enrolment at the basic school level.
“I think that the emphasis that you are placing on the need for us to prioritise basic school infrastructure is good. All those who are involved in the thinking and practice of educational policy will always tell you that the critical work is done at the basic level,” President Akufo-Addo said.
President Akufo-Addo also pledged to address the problems associated with the school feeding programme, the delay in the release of nurses' training allowances, the financing of the No Guarantor Student Loan Scheme and the payment of both local and foreign scholarships.