Vice Chancellors pledge support to education minister

Vice Chancellors of public, private and technical universities in the country have pledged to support the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, to transform and promote the development of the country through education.

The Chairmen of the Vice Chancellors, who made the announcement, said they would do everything to assist him in the planning, promoting and implementation of strategic policies that stood the chance of transforming the development of education leading to socio-economic development of the country.

Purpose

The VCs gave the assurance at separate ceremonies when they paid courtesy calls on the minister in Accra to congratulate him on his elevation to the substantive position of the ministry and also to discuss issues that would help improve the development of education in the country.

Additionally, the leadership of all the three categories of universities used the occasion to present particular cases, which were peculiar to them, for the minister to help bring about changes and improvement on their campuses.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Prof. John Owusu Gyapong, who is the Chairman of the Vice Chancellors, Ghana, on behalf of his colleagues, stated that the universities would do everything within their authority to ensure that the vision of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would be achieved for the betterment of the country.

Prof. Gyapong lamented the irresponsiveness of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GetFund) in terms of releasing funds and completing projects started in the various tertiary institutions over the years leading to congestion which did not support effective teaching and learning.

Appeal

The Chairman of the VC’s appealed to the government to increase infrastructure in all tertiary institutions in the country to meet the increasing intake due to the free senior high school (SHS) initiative.

He appealed to the government, through the minister, to consider suspending the Public Universities Bill till the right measures and concerns raised by all stakeholders were resolved before re-introducing it to Parliament to bring about peace and harmony on campuses.

Dr Adutwum, for his part, commended the VCs for their roles in the attainment of quality education over the years as well as the training of the manpower needs of the country.

He urged the universities to rekindle their research activities since research played a very crucial role in finding solution to various challenges confronting society and the nation as a whole.

Enrolment ratio

Dr Adutwum called on the universities to redouble their efforts towards improving the nation’s Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (GTER), which currently stood at 18.8 per cent, explaining that it was crucial in the training of the right manpower for the industrial sector as well as other sectors of the economy.

He also appealed to all stakeholders in the nation’s education sector to contribute their quota towards improving the GTER which held the key to boosting the nation’s socio-economic development.

The education minister assured the VC’s of efforts being made by the government towards improving infrastructure in all tertiary institutions to enhance effective teaching and learning.