Free sandals will ‘cushion vulnerable families’ – Mahama

President John Mahama has justified the distribution of free sandals to basic school pupils, saying it is part of government’s social intervention programmes aimed at reducing the burden on poor parents in taking care of their wards.

“We’ve chosen these social intervention programmes so that they can cushion families in vulnerable districts; in order that it will reduce the amount of money that the parents have to spend in sending their children to school,” he said

[contextly_sidebar id=”FEcI8K7fg4rNbsNzWPrtnzPMWEUezHSz”]On Monday, government commenced the distribution of about 10,000 school sandals to pupils in fulfillment of a promise made by the President during a familiarization tour of the Defense Industry Holding Company; a shoe factory owned by the Ghana Armed Force in May 2014.

Speaking to the gathering at the distribution durbar at Ada Foah, in the Greater Accra Region, President Mahama insisted it is not enough to just provide school uniforms and text books when many children from poor homes walk bare-footed to school.

He pointed out that if the government is assisting parents with the provision of school uniforms, text books, exercise books, free meals and now, school sandals, it will “reduce how much money parents have to take out of their incomes to send all of us to school and that is why government is investing heavily in this social intervention programme.”

On his part, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo thanked the President on behalf of the pupils and promised that the investment government is making in the young people of the area will yield good results.

He encouraged the teachers to give off their best in undertaking their duties.

“We are so happy and we have nothing to tell the President than to say thank you… I am very much aware of what our teachers can do because I have been with them for a period. Our teachers should take this opportunity to go all out and teach our children so that we will get good results.”

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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