The 77th Annual New Year School (ANYS) and Conference ended on Wednesday with a communiqué calling on the government to introduce targeted measures to sustain Ghana’s socio-economic growth and development across key sectors.

Presenting the communiqué, the Director of the 77th ANYS, Professor Simon-Peter Kafui Aheto, outlined several recommendations, including the expedited resourcing of the Digital Youth Village and Centre, the development of a sector-based operational framework for the 24-hour economy, and the standardisation of capacity-building and training programmes for entrepreneurs.

The communiqué also urged the government to broaden the country’s tax base through the digitalisation of the informal sector and to invest in youth-focused digital programmes to curb rising youth unemployment.

According to Prof. Aheto, the increasing interest of young people in digital and technology-driven initiatives underscores the need for government to scale up efforts to create opportunities in that space.

He further emphasised inclusive participation in policy formulation and implementation at the local level to ensure responsive and effective governance.

Prof. Aheto noted that although Ghana possesses immense talent within its educational institutions, the country has not fully harnessed this potential. To address this gap, he called on the Ministry of Education to consider introducing a National Talent Hunt Programme to identify, develop, and nurture talents across schools.

He also underscored the need for comprehensive support systems for entrepreneurs, including access to funding, technical training, regulatory compliance assistance, and logistical support as a strategy to reduce unemployment and stimulate economic growth.

On sports development, he advocated the revitalisation of inter-school sports competitions to identify and groom young athletes capable of representing Ghana internationally. He also called for adequate time allocation for Physical Education (PE) in schools and the establishment of an independent sports ethics committee to address corruption in the sector.

Touching on health, Prof. Aheto stressed the need to integrate health education into school curricula and roll out community-based health campaigns to improve public health outcomes and enhance the performance of the health sector.

Other key issues captured in the communiqué included the passage of the Public Performance Bill to strengthen accountability and the leveraging of technology to accelerate industrialisation.

In a brief remark, the Executive Director of the 77th ANYS and Conference, Dr Jack Andrews Dotsey, urged participants to reflect on the deliberations and work collaboratively to advance Ghana’s socio-economic transformation.

The two-day event, held under the theme “Building the Ghana We Want Together for Sustainable Development,” was officially opened on Tuesday by President John Dramani Mahama and brought together policymakers, academics, industry leaders, and development partners to discuss Ghana’s development priorities and pathways to sustainable growth.