The former President John Agyekum Kufuor has urged pupils of school age to take advantage of the country’s educational opportunities and aspire to the highest academic ladder.
That, he explained was the only way they could effectively contribute their quota to the socio-economic development of the country.
According to the former President, education had no barrier as such pupils had the option to choose between Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), the humanities and other aspects that would create opportunities for them to meet their mentors who could easily transform their lives.
Mr Kufuor made this remarks when pupils of Brain Birds Academy in Accra paid him a curtesy call at his official residence at Peduase in the Eastern Region on Monday.
The visit, which sought to afford the pupils aged between 9 to 13 years, the opportunity to meet the former president, formed part of the schools curricula to assist the pupils interact with prominent Ghanaians who had sacrificed and contributed to the growth and development of the country.
The pupils led by the proprietor of the school, Mrs Ellen Nti, presented a citation, a portrait of the former president and also recited poems in Twi, French, English, Ga eulogising the pivotal roles he played in transforming the country to its current level during his tenure as President.
The pupils also used the opportunity to ask questions including his motivation to become a president, his achievements and failures, his role models and fond childhood memories.
The former President indicated that to become somebody, one must first have dream, take inspiration from parents and teachers, go through the various educational ladders in order to network because the calibre of people you meet along the way could either make or unmake your life adding “my meeting Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia greatly inspired and transformed my life to become a politician.”
He indicated that the first four years of his tenure were the greatest challenges in his life, because getting a crack team to form a government and the technocrats to share in your vision was no mean a task, but with the right team he managed to surmount the hurdle and was given another chance.
On achievements, the former President indicated that the Universal Compulsory Basic Education and the National Health Insurance Policy, creating a congenial atmosphere for free speech that created the opportunity for the peace the country enjoyed enabled everyone to go about their duties for the socio-economic transformation of the country.
FROM LAWRENCE VOMAFA – AKPALU, PEDUASE
