Varsities churning out dependent graduates – Mahama

The flagbearer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr Edward Mahama, is calling for an overhaul of the country’s educational system in the face of the soaring numbers of unemployed young people.

He said the multitude of jobless graduates, coupled with a mismatch between industry and academia, has resulted in a huge developmental deficit and an ineffective public sector in the country.

In an interview on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show with Prince Minkah on Thursday May 5, Dr Mahama said the country’s education system needs a major restructuring to make the public sector efficient.

According to him, problem-solving skills must be incorporated into the curriculum for students so that they can be creative from infancy and learn entrepreneurship.

He held the view that tertiary institutions should be able to churn out graduates to solve modern problems to develop the nation.

Dr Mahama said if given the mandate to govern the nation, he will “introduce a subject called Thinking at the kindergarten stage through to Senior High School level”.

He revealed that the initiative will help individuals “for example, to know their environment and know that this is what I can do to extract minerals from it, so that I become wealthy. They have to think about what they are going to do when they grow up”.

He argued that: “There is a dependency mentality all over the place. There is no initiative and our education is part of the problem. If you live in a cocoa growing area, you should be able to know about the bean, the cocoa pod, and learn about what you can do with these things. Then when you grow up, you will not be looking for a job because you know your father is a cocoa farmer. ‘We have the beans, [so] I know that I can make a chocolate from it, so, I have my materials, then I add value to it.’”