Government to meet publishing industry

Kumasi, April 6, GNA - The government will soon meet all stakeholders in the publishing industry to discuss the issue of taxation on imported materials meant for the production of text books and other issues related to the development and growth of the industry in the country.

Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, Minister of Education, who announced this, said the meeting will help chart a new direction to promote the industry to enable entrepreneurs compete favourably with their foreign counterparts.

This was contained in an address read for him at the 5th Heidelberg/Publishing Studies awards and entrepreneurship graduation at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, on Friday.

In all, 215 final year students graduated in entrepreneurship and small business management, having studied the programme for two semesters, were given certificates, while 30 students who excelled in diverse fields were also honoured with undisclosed amounts of money and certificates. The courses included business plan writing, employment law and professional ethics, total quality management, human resource management, financial management and analysis for business starters among others.

The Minister said the government was committed to the creation of an enabling environment for all stakeholders in the industry to operate effectively in order to create jobs for graduates in the sector. He called for the establishment of Publishing Industry Professionals Association to help inject professionalism into the industry, removing waste and cutting down on expenditure in the sector. Mr Prince Kofi Amoabeng, Chief Executive Officer of Unique Trust (UT) Holdings in an address read for him, reminded the graduands of the need to exhibit professionalism which is the hallmark of a well trained and skilled professional.

He also urged them to have a positive attitude to help them cope more easily with the daily affairs of life, bring optimism into their lives.

Mr Jacob Nielsen Koldieng, Managing Director of Heidelberg Ghana Limited, main sponsors of the programmme praised the Publishing Studies Department for their continuous training to meet the manpower needs of the publishing industry and pledged to improve their sponsorship package to the department to enable them train more students and lecturers. He therefore called on the government to help publish all books locally to help sustain and strengthen the publishing industry as well as turn the nation's economy round, since a vibrant publishing industry in the country could even attract jobs from neighbouring countries. Mr Ralph Nyadu-Addo, the Course Coordinator said to help meet international standards, resource persons were brought from industry, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and the academia to mentor the students on different aspect of professional life, in addition to visits to industries and seminars, all geared towards training and skills acquisition.

He commended Heidelberg Companies in Germany and Ghana for their regular support to the department by sponsoring the students and lecturers yearly, to tour printing and publishing institutions in Germany, to attend print fairs in Europe, sponsoring of the graduation as well as donating GH A225,000 to support the procurement of a new A3, two-colour Printmaster machine for academic purposes, which are all geared towards training all round graduates for the job market. Professor Williams Ellis, Pro-Vice Chancellor of KNUST who chaired the function also commended the Publishing Studies Department for their exemplary programme that has made their students successful entrepreneurs after graduating and pledged the University's support to help improve their programme to meet the current job market.