Distance learning progressing - Veep

Pg. 3 Jan.05/08

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

Vice-President Aliu Mahama yesterday opened the 59th annual New Year School and said that a nation-wide distance education project aimed at spreading tertiary education to a larger Ghanaian community was progressing steadily.
The week-long school, on the theme “Tertiary Education and National Development”, is under the auspices of the Institute of Adult Education of the University of Ghana, Legon, and it is being attended by a cross-section of Ghanaians, including those in academia, educationists and economists.
The school provides a forum for prominent people to brainstorm on issues of national importance, reports of which are often presented to the government and policy makers for implementation.
Alhaji Mahama admitted that access to higher education was one of the greatest challenges the country faced and noted that “without going into the reasons at length, it is important to accept that over the years, inadequate investment in infrastructure and learning facilities has been a significant factor”.
However, he indicated that the government had over the years put in place measures to enhance infrastructure, as well as boost the quality of learning facilities.
The Vice-President said there were areas of social and economic needs that were deficient for want of appropriate and efficient application of knowledge.
“It is in this regard that we can argue that though education generally is a good tool for development, tertiary education should be better able to proactively equip the nation to tackle specific issues of under-development.
He said the link between tertiary education and national development could not be denied, but asked whether in the light of renewed public and private investment in tertiary education, “we are well positioned to tackle the problems of mass poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance and above all, unemployment”.
“I ask this question because of the persistent feeling that the current knowledge acquired at the tertiary level does not quite meet the skill needs for solving our most pressing problems,” he said.
“In other words, knowledge at tertiary should shape effective responses to the key needs of our time,” the Vice President said, adding that “we need to enhance health delivery, improve the quality of education, provide infrastructure, ensure regular utility supplies and expand industry and commerce”.
According to Alhaji Mahama, these objectives required quality manpower with the appropriate skills mix as it was only in that regard that the economy could absorb the under-employed with increased incomes and improved standards of living all round.
He urged the institute to use what he described as the unique opportunity of the distance learning programme to provide some form of training or guidance on national values and ethics as the programme was likely to reach a varied cross-section of the population.
“I wish to humbly appeal to participants to keep open minds and make meaningful contributions. This is a listening government and we are prepared to work in partnership to take on board the key suggestions for mutual improvement,” he added.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor C.N.B. Tagoe, said the university would launch its 60th anniversary next week.
He said in spite of the numerous challenges the university faced in terms of infrastructure and lack of learning and teaching facilities, it had been able to carry out a number of projects on campus to reduce the burden.
Professor Tagoe said the university had seeded off part of its lands to private estate developers to put up hostels on campus while a 7,000-bed hostel was being constructed from the resources of the university.
He also mentioned the distance learning programme of the university, which, he said, had provided the opportunity for many more people to access tertiary education in many parts of the country.
The Chairman of the University of Ghana Council, Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, who chaired the opening, entreated the participants to come out with suggestions that would help surmount the numerous challenges of tertiary education in the country.