Spend more resources on physically challenged – Minister

Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Minister of Education, has urged higher educational institutions to spend more of their resources on the physically challenged.

She said this was important as it would make the admission forms sensitive to their needs for proper planning.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang made this remarks at the Higher Education Dialogue on Graduates Employability for Inclusive Development in Ghana at the British Council in Accra last week.

The seminar brought senior policy makers from the Ministry of Education, Trade and Industry, Vice-Chancellors and Pro-Vice Chancellors of higher educational institutions, Association of Ghana Industry, employment agencies and representatives of United Kingdom higher educational institutions.

She said distance education had helped in taking education to the doorstep of students who might not have the opportunity to be on campus for the duration of their studies.

Prof. Opoku-Agyeman said it was time to deepen the dialogue on economic, education and social needs of the nation to fine tune these with the policies of higher education.

Often we get confused about who should make this determination, the Government or the institutions?, she asked, adding all universities, private and public, must work in harmony to learn from each other and share resources and encourage healthy competition, she said.

Prof. Opoku-Agyeman explained that other existing modes of widening access to higher education includes the mature students option that factored in work experience in the absence of other academic requirements and created space for students from under-developed areas.

She cited an example of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) which expanded its intake of science and mathematics students through remedial programmes which brought together students whose grades were not outstanding and housed them on campus for eight to 10 weeks.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang said the UCC opened its laboratories, libraries and provided intensive tutoring to these students and at the end of the period they performed so well in a special examination set for them.

She urged the polytechnics to increase student intake with the requisite preparations in science and mathematics as well as vocational education.

Dr Eric Daniel Ananga of the University of Education took the participants through Governance, Capacity Building, Access to Higher Education, Cross Border Education and Tackling the Graduate Employability Challenge in Ghana.