‘Engage students who can’t enter university’

Retired educationist, K.B. Asante has asked government to engage graduates from Senior High Schools (SHS) who may be denied access to public universities, in services that would enhance their personal development.

His call follows admission by University of Ghana, Legon and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) that, they cannot accommodate the huge number of students who have applied to enter the universities this year.

This has arisen partly because the number of SHS graduates has doubled as the three-year and four-year streams of the students have graduated at the same time this year.

President John Kufuor increased the duration of the SHS from three years to four years in 2001 but when President John Atta Mills assumed office in 2010, his administration revised the previous decision hence the three years.

This year, an estimated 409,832 SHS graduates will fight their way to the five public universities in the country, as against the 173,655 graduants last year.

Mr K.B. Asante stressed government has done a poor job by not anticipating this problem.

He charged the officials at the Ministry of Education and other public officials who have been paid to find answers to these problems in the educational sector, to be up and doing.

He said because most of the SHS graduates would not be able to enter the university this year, government must engage them in a worthy national service endeavours such as teaching or farming, so that they would not go astray.

He acknowledged that government is already struggling to pay national service personnel, but said at all cost the SHS graduates must strive to get the graduates to do something.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary Education, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa , told Joy News government is undertaking infrastructure developments in various public tertiary institutions across the country.

He said the projects are more than 90% complete to absorb the nearly 100% rise in the number of applicants.

Luv News' Correspondent, Erastus Asare Donkor, reports from Kumasi that there have been expansions in some of the lecture halls at the KNUST campus.