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Mr Ekow Spio Garbrah delivering his address
Mr Ekow Spio Garbrah delivering his address

Reform educational curricula to meet job market demands - Spio-Garbrah

“Ghana will continue to produce unemployable graduates if reforms made in the educational curricula do not conform to the demands of the job market,” a former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has stated.

He noted that there was a vacuum in the practical knowledge graduates acquired in school because the curricula was totally unrelated to the fundamentals of the country’s economic production needs.

Mr Spio-Garbrah made the observation at a public lecture he delivered at the Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana in Accra yesterday, as part of activities marking the 60th anniversary celebration of the Old Vandals Association (OVA) of the hall. 

In attendance were some members of the academia, old students of the hall (old Vandals) and some Members of Parliament. It was on the theme: “60 years of Vandalism: the next chapter.”

Interventions

Mr Spio-Garbrah, therefore, called for effective measures including mentorship, to bridge the gap between education and industry, to prepare students for the job market before they graduated.

The former minister further stressed that the country’s economy could only develop if Ghanaians realised the need to seek knowledge to cause change, instead of just gaining knowledge without any pragmatic linkages.  

For instance, he said the exploration of the natural resources of Ghana, remained less than 50 per cent as a result of the unavailability of instruments to measure and extract them, adding that the future generation needed to equip themselves with knowledge that would help preserve and also make good use of the nation’s resources.

“We should speed up on how to use the knowledge and not just how we acquire the knowledge,” he charged.

On trade, Mr Spio-Garbrah called for a vigorous campaign to promote made–in Ghana products and also entreated Ghanaians to endeavour to purchase and use local products.

Vandals

Touching on the theme, Mr Spio-Garbrah said vandals had values such as self–development and leadership qualities that they must be proud of and advised that such values must impact positively on their respective workplaces and communities for the accelerated development of the country.

“We should value and protect the spirit of vandalism,” he urged.

Mr Spio-Garbrah said there were many prominent vandals in all spheres of life and that their achievements should serve as an inspiration to the younger ones to aim higher.

Old vandals

For his part, the president of the OVA, Mr Isaac Nketsiah-Sarpong, urged members to remember their roots, intensify the bond of unity, brotherhood and patriotism of being a vandal, adding, “it is always good to be home after receiving much impact from the hall”

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