A Minister of State at the Office of the President, Dr Freda Prempeh, has urged the youth desiring to pursue a life career in the military and other security services to first obtain degrees or related professional certificates. 

She said the need for them to remain patient and concentrate on their studies as a matter of priority because, “it is better to wait and obtain professional certificates before you apply than to join the forces without certificate.”  

This, according to her, would delay one’s promotion and thus make one an ordinary soldier.  “The military is always ready for you, so prepare yourself well,” Dr Prempeh advised. 

Dr Prempeh, also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North Constituency and a Member of the Interior Committee of Parliament gave the advice when she presented cadet uniforms and accoutrement to the cadet corps of the Serwaa Kesse Senior High School (SHS) at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region.

She also donated quantities of LED bulbs and streetlights to improve the lighting systems of the school and enhance security.

Dr Prempeh, also a former officer of the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS) told the cadet corps that with professional certificates or degrees, they would be able to rise fast through the various ranks of the military or the other forces they might find themselves and pursue higher in their life career.

She advised the students to remain disciplined and selfless, avoid unhealthy lifestyles, and read their books, particularly at leisure hours to obtain good grades that would enable them to continue their education to the next level.

The MP said the implementation of the Free SHS Programme had opened the “floodgate” for every Ghanaian child to acquire secondary education, irrespective of his or her background.

“This is why you must also capitalize on the opportunity President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has provided to learn hard and justify the investment made into the programme. By doing so you would inspire the government to strengthen the FSHS for more Ghanaian children to benefit,” Dr Prempeh stated.

The Headmistress of the School, Yaa Serwaa, thanked the MP for her immeasurable contributions towards tackling the development needs of the school, and appealed for support to complete the school’s fencing project.

She said the school population had grown due to the FSHS Programme with more than 2,200 students now and appealed for more classroom blocks to well-position it to admit more students in the next academic year.

Dr Prempeh later inspected construction work on a Kindergarten block she lobbied from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) being put up at the Duayaw-Nkwanta Presbyterian Primary School and appealed to the contractor to speed up work on it.  

The project, according to the contractor, had reached roofing level and therefore assured to complete it within the six-month period. 

The Tano North Deputy Director of Education in-charge of administration also commended the MP, Seth Kofi Dankwa, saying her assistance had helped the Education Directorate a lot in addressing pertinent challenges confronting basic and second cycle education in the municipality.