Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has challenged young people across Africa to become advocates for education, insisting that the continent’s long-term development depends on investing in quality learning opportunities for every child.
Addressing participants as Special Guest at the 3rd West Africa Youth Summit in Accra, the former President said education remains the most important tool for driving Africa’s social and economic transformation.
He urged young leaders to promote access to education in their respective countries, arguing that an educated population is better equipped to develop lasting African solutions to the continent’s challenges.
Nana Akufo-Addo cited Ghana’s Free Senior High School policy as an example of how expanding access to education can transform lives, explaining that the initiative was introduced to remove financial barriers that had prevented many children from progressing to secondary school.
According to him, nearly one million young Ghanaians were unable to access secondary education over a 10-year period before the introduction of the policy, a situation he said threatened the country’s future development.
He noted that the programme significantly boosted enrolment, especially among girls and students from disadvantaged communities, ensuring that access to secondary education was no longer dependent on a family’s financial status.
The former President also recalled an encounter during his time in office when a woman complained that the Free SHS policy had reduced the availability of young girls for domestic work because many of them were now attending school. He described the comment as a clear indication of the policy’s far-reaching social impact.
While acknowledging the importance of investments in roads, hospitals and other infrastructure, Nana Akufo-Addo maintained that education remains the foundation upon which Africa’s sustainable development must be built.
