President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appealed to the first batch of the free senior high school (SHS) programme to work hard to achieve good results in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the good results will put the "naysayers" of the programme to shame.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking to a section of Senior High School students and teachers in Sunyani as part of his two-day tour of the Bono Region.

He noted that the country has invested much in their education and they must not allow it to go down the drain as the first batch of students under the Free SHS Programme.

He urged them to sit up study and pass well in their examination in June 2019.

The President said it was the wish of those who opposed the programme that the first batch of students fail their examination for the critics to castigate the government and, therefore, asked the beneficiaries of the programme to use the opportunity offered them to perform well in their WASSCE.

President Akufo-Addo noted that he has proven his skeptics wrong with the implementation of the Free SHS Policy and believes it will go a long way to empower the youth towards the future.

“We wanted a situation in Ghana where everybody would have an opportunity to go to school at least to the end of SHS. We do not not know where the next Ghanaian genius is coming from, we did not know what family rich or poor that child has been born in. If we do not give all the children the opportunity we would never know it may be those who do not get the opportunity are where the brains are so we would give the opportunity to all.”

“Those skeptics, the non- performance who said it couldn’t be done, it would bankrupt the country, it was not a good idea, I am hoping that by now if they have any affection for the truth would be cringing in their bedrooms acknowledging that not only has it been done but it was a good thing that Free SHS was done free.”