Govt must develop education policies for areas that steer the economy

Mr Benjamin Debrah, the Managing Director of Barclays Bank Ghana, has said the government as a major stakeholder in education must provide a policy framework for the sector targeted at areas steering the economy.

He said: “Too often, policies are geared towards the sectors that the Government would like to develop as opposed to sectors driving the economy.

“For example, recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures suggest that the services sector is of growing importance. Have we revised our education policy to reflect this?

Mr Debrah said this at a fair at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as part of the 6th Annual Business Week on the theme: “Bridging the Gap between Academia, Industry and Government”.

He said it was unfortunate that research work conducted by various universities had not resolved problems faced by industries, adding that a system should be instituted for lecturers to take jobs in industries during sabbatical to keep them abreast with industry problems.

“When lecturers take sabbaticals, they go to universities in other countries to teach; why not go into the industry to learn the needs of industry so that they can reflect that in their teaching work,” he asked.

Mr Debrah appealed to the Government to encourage industry players to create linkage with academia by providing incentives such as tax holidays.

“If the money I give for research is for instance treated as tax deductible when I declare my results, it would encourage me to do more than I currently do,” he said.

Professor S.K. Afrane, Provost of the College of Arts and Social Sciences, proposed a review of the academic curricula of business schools.

“I propose that the curriculum of business schools should be redesigned to make a large number of students practical entrepreneurs,” he said. “There should be a shift from head knowledge to more use of hands.”

Prof Afrane said universities in Ghana needed to be dynamic in order to meet changing trends of the modern corporate world.