The Ministry of Education Monday, February 2 hosted the Presidential Independence Day awardees to a luncheon in appreciation of their exceptional performance in the 2019 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Present were 36 students who excelled in the examination and are currently pursuing their secondary education in the various senior high schools (SHSs) in the country.
The luncheon is an annual ceremony during which the sector minister and his directors of education interact and dine with the awardees, their parents and teachers.
Hard work
In his words of exaltation, the Deputy Minister in charge of General Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, urged the awardees to ensure that the hard work of their parents would not be in vain.
“Work hard so that one day when we meet you, you will be able say that my daddy invested in me and I also invested in myself and I succeeded,” he advised the awardees, urging them to take wise decisions, work hard so that they would succeed.
Investment
Dr Adutwum told parents that investing in their children was the best because “your children are your pension and so you should not get tired of catering for them.
As your children succeed, so are your successes. Twenty years from now, you are going to have fond memories of this day and the sacrifices you made.”
Show of appreciation
For his part, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, explained that the ministry organised the luncheon to show its appreciation for what the students had done for themselves, the ministry and the country as a whole.
He congratulated them on the good work they had done and urged them “to aim high and at the end of the day, you will be grateful to yourselves, to the society that you are in and you will make us all proud.”
Asset to nation
In a statement, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Mr Benjamin Gyasi, described the day as “very special, dedicated to you for how far you have come.”
He reminded the awardees that by virtue of their achievements, they had become assets to the country.
“We as a country and managers of education will provide you with what you need. We will monitor you and encourage you and to achieve what you want,” he told the award winners.
He told them that it was a great honour they had brought to themselves, their families and the nation and reminded them that the award was also a challenge for them to work harder in order not to fail themselves and the nation.
