Post-graduate education must be relevant to nation's needs- Asante

Cape Coast, Nov. 22, GNA- Mr. Kwaku Baprui Asante, a renowned educationist and politician, on Friday, said there was the need to make post-graduate education in the country relevant to her development needs, since it has a requisite role in national advancement.

"We need Ghanaian experts who would chart the country's path towards development" he said, adding that it was time for such graduates to specialise in areas capable of solving the country's problems. Mr. Asante was addressing a seminar organised by the Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) as part of activities marking its 10th anniversary celebration.

It had the theme " post-graduate education in Ghana: government policy direction, challenges and prospects".

He called on post-graduates to make their courses and their application more meaningful to enhance the socio-economic development of the nation, and that their education should be able to provide people who could assist in nation building".

Mr Asante pointed out that if all stakeholders gave graduate education the needed attention it deserved, the country would in the near future not depend on foreign expertise and advice.

He said the country, could rather learn from the experiences of developed countries without necessarily copying them, and added that he was unhappy that the "country has not been confident enough to draw and execute its own development plan".

Professor Naana Opoku -Agyemang, Dean of graduate students at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) who chaired the function, urged post-graduate students to have confidence in themselves, in order to meet any future challenges.

She expressed concern about the encroachment of foreign culture in the Ghanaian society, particularly among the youth, and its implications on the country's socio-economic development.

She stressed the need for the nation's cultural values to be nurtured, and on the current generation to cherish them, since according to her, there was nothing like an entirely negative or positive culture.