Government will not provide fee-free education until...

The Ghanaian government will not be in a position to provide fee-free education at all levels until everybody puts in his quota to salvage the economy and create economic prosperity.

Mrs. Esther Lily Nkansah, Western Regional Minister, said this in an address read for her at the 22nd Annual Certification and Prize-giving Day of the Sekondi-Takoradi Opportunity Industrialisation Training Centre (OIC ) in Sekondi, about 110 miles west of the capital Accra on Saturday.

She said the economic constraints facing the government and the limited resources at its disposal must be stretched tightly to meet the requirements of every sector of the economy and the society.

Mrs. Nksansah said government has tried to absorb the cost of equipping the youth with requisite skills, especially during the early years, as a modern state. “But it is unable to do so now without individual or corporate citizens, religious and other organisations taking up some share of the burden.”

She commended the OIC for assisting government and provide hope for those unable to afford financial demands of the formal educational system. Mr. J.K. Kurankye, former Principal of Takoradi Technical Institute, who was the guest speaker, said it is necessary for institutions such as the OIC to aim at quality training, which measures up to the required standards set presently by the Technical Examinations Unit of the Ghana Education Service and the National Vocational Training Institute.

Mr. Henry Hammond, Programme Manager of OIC, said it has entered into an agreement with the European Union to organise a special outreach vocational training programme for the illiterate and semi-literate from January 2001.

Courses to be offered under the programme are soap making, trunk making, carpentry and masonry. The 109 trainees who had completed their courses in various disciplines were presented with certificates.