Govt commits Ghc255.5 million towards expanding tertiary education
The government has committed a total of Ghc255.5 million towards expanding access to tertiary education to help accommodate the expected increase in demand.
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The amount represents 32.33 per cent of the Ghana Education Trust fund (GETfund) allocation for 2017 to the tertiary sector for the implementation of priority projects.
This is an inevitable consequence of pre-tertiary reforms and policies that in a few years, demand for access to tertiary education will increase significantly.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Education, who announced this in a speech read on his behalf at Tarkwa in the Western Region on Saturday also indicated that preparatory works for the establishment of the University of Education and Sustainable Development, were on.
9th Congregation/student population
Addressing the 9th Congregation ceremony of the University of Mines and Energy (UMaT), the minister further announced that discussions were ongoing with the Korean Exim Bank to provide additional financing, besides the parliamentary approval of Ghc45 million Euro facility from Italy.
Currently, the total number of students studying at UMaT is 2, 248, out of which 223, constituting 9.92 per cent are postgraduate students pursuing MSc, MPhil and PhD programmes.
The female population now stands at 348, constituting 15.48 per cent of the total student, population, consequent to the university's gender mainstreaming agenda to encourage women to enroll in it's engineering programmes.
The university has also attracted foreign students from several countries and at present, their population stands at 97 from 13 countries, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Congo Brazaville, Gabon, La Cote D' Ivoire, Mali and Tanzania, among others.
Book and research allowance
Dr Prempeh again indicated that for this year, a total amount of GHC55million had been allocated for the payment of book and research allowances.
He added that the ministry had received, processed and forwarded audited claims, amounting to Ghc53.57 million from the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) to the Ministry of Finance, and payment would commence this quarter.
The minister also pointed out that the government had committed itself to the establishment of a Research Fund for the sole purpose of funding relevant and specific research work in the institutions of higher learning.
According to Dr Prempeh, a draft bill for the setting up of the fund had been completed and consultations for stakeholder inputs were currently underway.
Pre-tertiary education
He reiterated that the delivery of quality education at the pre-tertiary level was key to a successful tertiary education.
He said to improve the quality of education at that level, the government had committed itself to reforming the curriculum at the pre-tertiary stage, to focus on namely, Writing, Arithmetic, Reading and Creative Arts while it was also committed to the promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
In addition to this, "We seek to realign all Technical, Vocational, Engineering and Technology (TVET) institutions with the Ministry to promote standardization and linkage to Technical Universities, and to position them to be at the forefront of the government's 'One district, one factory' programme."
"Our agenda for change in the current and structure of our education system needs the collaboration of universities like the UMaT, particularly in the area of the promotion of STEM as a basic skill. The ministry is willing to engage with universities on how we can partner for the promotion of science and technology in this country and I look forward to a healthy engagement in this direction, Dr Prempeh emphasized.
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, who was the guest of honour, observed that UMaT was training some of the best engineers for the accelerated development of the country, acknowledging that in recent times the university had made strides
