We ignore science, technology at our ‘peril’ – Akufo-Addo

Science and technology “rule agriculture and the entire food industry” and should be prioritised if unemployment in the country is to be overcome, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.

According to him, science, technology and technical skills, being central to industry, offer job opportunities from which Ghana can also benefit by prioritising education in such subjects.

For such reason, the President noted, there was also the need to pursue with all seriousness the Planting for Food and Jobs programme he recently rolled out at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo region. The initiative is expected to create some 750,000 jobs for Ghanaian youth.

The President made these remarks in a speech at Mafi-Kumasi Senior High Technical School in the Central Tongu district of the Volta Region.

“Science, technology and technical schools rule industry and you rule yourself out if you are not appropriately equipped. That is why we are insisting on the policy of One District One Factory,” he said.

“…Science, technology and industry rule our lives and rule the world and we ignore them at our peril. And I speak not just to those looking for jobs [in factories] but I also speak to the social and political elite in our country. We will be singularly unfit to govern in a world that is dominated by science and technology unless we are fully grounded in such skills ourselves.

“I am looking forward to a change of attitude in our educational system that will pay deserved attention to skills training. The provision of laboratories and workshops will be paramount. This will involve huge investments in infrastructure and the proper training of teachers.”

The President warned that in the drive to make technical education more popular, difficult questions will come up regarding prioritisation of expenditure on education.

In pumping more money into technical education, Mr Akufo-Addo warned dilemmas – such as if laboratories and workshops should be prioritised over dormitories for day schools in need of accommodation facilities – would be encountered, saying should they emerge, “I suggest we should not avoid them”.

He promised staff and students of the school a new bus and a workshop.