OLA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
OLA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL THE FUTURE WE WANT AS A NATION The youth are said to be the future leaders but the question is , what kind of future do we want the youth to be leaders of? As representatives of students of Ola Girls ’ Senior High School, Ho, we want to present to you the kind of future want to be leaders of. We present our vision on the following thematic areas:
EDUCATION
Education is a liberator of mind; it equips the individual with employable skills and makes them fit in the society. Even though the state has made some efforts to make education free, we think our current educational system is defective. A lot of young people are not deriving the required benefits from it. We therefore want an improved and more effective system of free education, especially in the secondary and tertiary levels. Basic education must also be improved because it is the foundation of the entire educational system. The current situation where a lot of basic school children in Ghana lacks the basic literacy and numeracy skills is unacceptable in this 21st century. Again, even though there are some scholarship schemes in the country, they are sectional and discriminatory. We would like to see all-inclusive scholarship schemes that award scholarships to students on merit. We also want our educational system to be practical and job-oriented. More attention should be paid to technical and vocational schools to equip school leavers with employable skills. Our educational infrastructure should also be student friendly. There should be enough sporting facilities in every high school to promote sports development in the schools. Dilapidated school blocks should be a thing of the past. We want to see school buildings that are friendly to the physically challenged and also have enough rest rooms.
SECURITY AND JUSTICE SYSTEM
Anytime the Ghana Integrity Initiative comes out with its Corruption Perception Index, the police service ranks as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. This is bad for the security of the citizenry because the police are supposed to be watchdogs of the law and order in the country. We want to see an effective police force with honest men and women who discharge their duties scrupulously. As a result, there would be drastic reduction in the crime rate and the corruption in the country. We want to live in a just society where justice is not sold to the highest bidder. We want judicial corruption to be flushed out of the country for good.
WELL LAID-OUT SETTLEMENTS
We want to see well laid-out settlements where there are clean roads, well numbered homes and well addressed streets and proper drainage systems without any open, filthy gutters. Welllaid out settlements will facilitate the supply of gas from a central point to the individual; homes. Individuals will no longer use cylinders in their homes. Mail can also be easily delivered to people in their homes. The state should partner real estate developers to build more residential apartments for people
A NEW NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE CAPITAL CITY
The national capital must be relocated to the central part of the country. Accra is not well planned and is now congested. A new national capital should be sited preferably in Brong Ahafo Region, which is a central point in the country. This proposed capital should be well laid out and properly planned to befit the current status of Ghana as an oil-producing country.
INDUSTRIALISATION
There is high unemployment in the country due to inadequate numbers of manufacturing industries. We want the country to industrialise. We want the government to create a conducive environment for the private sector to thrive. The government should partner private enterprises to build factories across the country to employ the teeming youth. The current buyand-sell economy must be diversified.
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
The transportation system in the country is very poor, which affects various sectors of the economy, especially the agricultural sector. Food produce gets rotten in farming areas when there are bumper harvests but with a well-developed transportation system, food produce can be carted to the major towns and cities. This would help farmers derive maximum benefit from their labour and the cost of food would be cheaper in the urban centres. A well-developed railway network across the country would also take pressure off the roads and our roads will last longer. Each regional capital should have an airport to improve the aviation subsector of the transportation sector.
SOCIAL WELFARE
We want an effective social welfare system that takes care of the less privileged by providing them with homes and free health care. We do not want to see widows sent to witches’ camps any longer.
SANITATION
The sanitation situation in Ghana now is shameful. Our cities and villages are mostly filthy. We want to see the farthest Ghanaian city, town and village being spick and span, with recreational facilities dotted all over the place.
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
So much lip service has been paid to agricultural development in Ghana and we all know that without food we will all die. We don’t want to be left any longer in the hands of peasant farmers. We want to see mechanised farming and large plantations that produce food in abundance for domestic consumption and also for export for foreign exchange.
UNINTERRUPTED SUPPLY OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
We want to see a Ghana that has uninterrupted power supply to homes, schools, offices and factories for increased productivity. We want a future Ghana where schoolchildren have constant electricity so that they can go about their studies freely. Never again should we allow our country to be plunged into total darkness as we have been experiencing over the last decade or so. Clean water must supplied to every nook and cranny of this country where human beings dwell. Schoolchildren and women should no longer be carrying pots, pans and gallon containers on their heads, walking several miles in search of water used by animals.
CONCLUSION
This is what we envision for the future Ghana, which we are always told to be the leaders of. It is our hope that those who were once referred to as future leaders and are now the present leaders will create the required conditions to make our vision become a reality. ===
EDUCATION
Education is a liberator of mind; it equips the individual with employable skills and makes them fit in the society. Even though the state has made some efforts to make education free, we think our current educational system is defective. A lot of young people are not deriving the required benefits from it. We therefore want an improved and more effective system of free education, especially in the secondary and tertiary levels. Basic education must also be improved because it is the foundation of the entire educational system. The current situation where a lot of basic school children in Ghana lacks the basic literacy and numeracy skills is unacceptable in this 21st century. Again, even though there are some scholarship schemes in the country, they are sectional and discriminatory. We would like to see all-inclusive scholarship schemes that award scholarships to students on merit. We also want our educational system to be practical and job-oriented. More attention should be paid to technical and vocational schools to equip school leavers with employable skills. Our educational infrastructure should also be student friendly. There should be enough sporting facilities in every high school to promote sports development in the schools. Dilapidated school blocks should be a thing of the past. We want to see school buildings that are friendly to the physically challenged and also have enough rest rooms.
SECURITY AND JUSTICE SYSTEM
Anytime the Ghana Integrity Initiative comes out with its Corruption Perception Index, the police service ranks as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. This is bad for the security of the citizenry because the police are supposed to be watchdogs of the law and order in the country. We want to see an effective police force with honest men and women who discharge their duties scrupulously. As a result, there would be drastic reduction in the crime rate and the corruption in the country. We want to live in a just society where justice is not sold to the highest bidder. We want judicial corruption to be flushed out of the country for good.
WELL LAID-OUT SETTLEMENTS
We want to see well laid-out settlements where there are clean roads, well numbered homes and well addressed streets and proper drainage systems without any open, filthy gutters. Welllaid out settlements will facilitate the supply of gas from a central point to the individual; homes. Individuals will no longer use cylinders in their homes. Mail can also be easily delivered to people in their homes. The state should partner real estate developers to build more residential apartments for people
A NEW NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE CAPITAL CITY
The national capital must be relocated to the central part of the country. Accra is not well planned and is now congested. A new national capital should be sited preferably in Brong Ahafo Region, which is a central point in the country. This proposed capital should be well laid out and properly planned to befit the current status of Ghana as an oil-producing country.
INDUSTRIALISATION
There is high unemployment in the country due to inadequate numbers of manufacturing industries. We want the country to industrialise. We want the government to create a conducive environment for the private sector to thrive. The government should partner private enterprises to build factories across the country to employ the teeming youth. The current buyand-sell economy must be diversified.
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
The transportation system in the country is very poor, which affects various sectors of the economy, especially the agricultural sector. Food produce gets rotten in farming areas when there are bumper harvests but with a well-developed transportation system, food produce can be carted to the major towns and cities. This would help farmers derive maximum benefit from their labour and the cost of food would be cheaper in the urban centres. A well-developed railway network across the country would also take pressure off the roads and our roads will last longer. Each regional capital should have an airport to improve the aviation subsector of the transportation sector.
SOCIAL WELFARE
We want an effective social welfare system that takes care of the less privileged by providing them with homes and free health care. We do not want to see widows sent to witches’ camps any longer.
SANITATION
The sanitation situation in Ghana now is shameful. Our cities and villages are mostly filthy. We want to see the farthest Ghanaian city, town and village being spick and span, with recreational facilities dotted all over the place.
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
So much lip service has been paid to agricultural development in Ghana and we all know that without food we will all die. We don’t want to be left any longer in the hands of peasant farmers. We want to see mechanised farming and large plantations that produce food in abundance for domestic consumption and also for export for foreign exchange.
UNINTERRUPTED SUPPLY OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
We want to see a Ghana that has uninterrupted power supply to homes, schools, offices and factories for increased productivity. We want a future Ghana where schoolchildren have constant electricity so that they can go about their studies freely. Never again should we allow our country to be plunged into total darkness as we have been experiencing over the last decade or so. Clean water must supplied to every nook and cranny of this country where human beings dwell. Schoolchildren and women should no longer be carrying pots, pans and gallon containers on their heads, walking several miles in search of water used by animals.
CONCLUSION
This is what we envision for the future Ghana, which we are always told to be the leaders of. It is our hope that those who were once referred to as future leaders and are now the present leaders will create the required conditions to make our vision become a reality. ===
