Students urged to be advocates of positive change

Cape Coast, April 25, GNA- Mr James Bomfeh, President of Youth for Action Ghana, an NGO, on Saturday called on students to be advocates of change that aims at progress and development.

Mr Bomfeh made the call when he spoke on "building and sustaining change-the role of the student", at the launch of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) branch of the Ghana-German Intercultural Students' Association (GGISA) in Cape Coast.

The theme was "consolidating the intercultural bridge". He said there was the need to encourage the youth to actively participate in events that bring about development, adding "whiles some changes urge us on, others draw us backward". Mr Bomfeh, cited an example of a group of German students, whom he said, helped to bring about the end of the Second World war by infiltrating Hitler's camp and convincing the soldiers, to end the war.

Mrs I. Likpa-Fordjor, Director of Languages at the Goethe Institute (GI) said the institute would soon introduce an international recognised examination for students who wish to pursue university courses with English as a language of instruction.

Mrs Likpa-Fordjor, who spoke on "Goethe Institute as an agent for intercultural understanding between Ghana and Germany", described the Institute as a worldwide organisation actively involved in the promotion of the German language and culture as well as fostering international cultural co-operation and understanding.

She said it enrols 700 students a year to pursue various courses in German.

Dr Harald Olk, Head of DAAD, a German academic exchange service, in Accra, who inaugurated the association, observed that Germans know very little about Africa and Ghana in particular, and urged the association to work hard to make Ghana a friend to Germans. Mr Reginald Crabbe, founder and president of GGISA, in a welcoming address noted that, without global co-operation among countries, there would be no development.

It was against this background, that the GGISA has been formed to harmonise the cultures of the two countries. He expressed gratitude to Mrs Likpa-Fordjor and Dr Olk for their support to the association.