Vice-Chancellors of Public, Private and Technical Universities in Ghana have pledged to support the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, to develop and implement strategic policies that will transform the education sector for rapid socio-economic development.
At a meeting with the Minister, to discuss issues that would help improve education in the country, they spoke about peculiar issues that need to be changed to improve the teaching environment on campuses.
Chairman of Vice-Chancellors, Ghana Prof. John Owusu Gyapong, on behalf of his colleagues, expressed concern about the inability of the Ghana Education Trust Fund, to release funds and complete projects over the years, leading to congestion which does not augur well for effective teaching and learning. Prof. Gyapong who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, appealed to government to provide more infrastructure in all tertiary institutions to meet the increasing intake due to the Free Senior High School initiative.
He urged government to suspend the Public Universities Bill till the right measures and concerns raised by stakeholders are resolved. Dr. Adutwum commended the VC’s 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 it plays very crucial roles in addressing the challenges of society. The Education Minister stressed the need for tertiary institutions to collaborate with industry in the training of the right manpower for the nation so that graduates will easily be employed without much difficulty.
This could be done by engaging industry in the planning of their academic programmes and other activities that contribute towards training of students to meet the 21st century needs of the job market.