President Akufo-Addo has made a passionate appeal to the people of Ghana to eschew all forms of self-centeredness and divisiveness for the sake of the collective development of the nation.
He made the call in his address to attendees of the 2023 President’s Independence Day Awards ahead of the 66th Independence anniversary on Monday 6 March 2023, at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) today (3 March).
Lots to celebrate
President Akufo-Addo noted that inspite of the challenges of the country, a lot has been achieved by the nation and the citizenry must have the propensity to celebrate the achievements and to acknowledge the collective challenges of the state.
“As we prepare to celebrate 66 years of independence from the British Colonial power on the theme: “Our Unity, Our Strength, Our Purpose” the formal commemoration of the anniversary taking place in Ho and Adaklu, in the Volta Region, let us eschew all acts of divisiveness and self-centered tendencies which will only retard our forward match.
“We must have the pride to acknowledge we have made positive strides and we must also have the humility to appreciate that we still have a long way to go” President Akufo-Addo said.
“We must have the patience to accept that just as our fight for freedom and independence was not achieved in a day, so to our national prosperity will not come overnight.
“We will have to work hard for it. In peace and unity, I am certain that we can build a new Ghanaian civilization that will attract the admiration of Africa and the world” the President added.
High SHS enrollment
Minister for Education Yaw Osei Adu Twum, in his brief remarks pointed out that over 500,000 students have so far been placed in various Senior High Schools across the country in the ongoing 2023 school placement exercise.
He also commended the awardees for their achievements and he urged them not to relent in their efforts to climb up the academic ladder at the various senior high schools they have been admitted to.
“When free senior high school started in 2017, there were 830,000 students enrolled in our high schools across the country. This year, we have had a record placement of over 500,000 students.
“The 830,000 was for three years, this year alone, 500,000 have found schools and we are waiting anxiously for them to enroll in our various high schools across the country. That tells you something about what is taking place in this country [as far as education is concerned]” the education minister said.
Nestle’s support
Managing Director of the sponsoring institution of the President’s Independence Awards, Nestlé Ghana Limited, Georgios Badaro, on his part, applauded the award recipients for their achievements.
He noted that for 16 years, Nestle has support the awards in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the presidency of Ghana to reward Ghanaian students and talents who excel in the basic education certificate examinations (BECE).
“We [Nestle] do this because we believe that recognizing, celebrating, supporting the achievements of our young talent can only urge them and motivate them to stay on course of their growth and development” Georgios Badaro said.
The awards
The ceremony saw the president presenting awards to 36 deserving students for the year 2021 and 36 students for the year 2022, bring the total to 72. The 2021 ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore inculcated into the 2022 edition.
The President’s Independence Day Awards, since its inception in 1993, annually rewards young, brilliant students (male and female) between the ages of 14 and 19 from all the regions of Ghana.
The awardees are selected based on their exceptional academic performances in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). The objectives are essentially, to recognize and reward academic excellence and to promote and encourage students with additional educational needs.
Selection criteria
The criteria used in selecting the awardees are excellent performance in the 2021 & 2022 BECE. The overall best male and female students from public schools in the 16 regions are selected based on their raw scores obtained from the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC).
Overall best male and female students with additional educational needs such as visual and hearing impairments are also selected to receive awards. Where there is a tie, the core subjects (English, Mathematics, General Science, and Social Studies only) are used to break the tie.
To ensure absolute transparency and fairness, the best male, and female students from public schools in each region are selected based on the raw scores obtained from WAEC.
These students become the representing awardees for their regions. For inclusivity, the four overall best male and female students with visual and hearing challenges are also selected based on their BECE raw scores.
From Wilberforce Asare
