Lead national transformation agenda - Education Minister charges KNUST board
The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has charged the newly reconstituted governing board of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to lead the transformation agenda of the country.
"Take charge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), lead the nation in STEM, and bring about innovation.
Advertisement
"We are in the fourth industrial revolution and the nation is depending on you to lead the charge in creating opportunities for our young men and women to have the requisite skills," he said when he inaugurated the board last Friday. The board is chaired by a diplomat and a former Ghana's Permanent Representative at the UN, Nana Effah Appenteng.
Board members
The other board members are Prof. Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, Vice-Chancellor; Mr K. A. Karikari, Dr Abena Oforiwaa Ampomah, and Dr Ernest Owusu Dapaa, all government nominees.
Others are Professor Rexford Assasie Oppong, a representative of convocation for professorial of the university; Dr Abdul Samed, a representative of the convocation for non-professional; a representative of the University Teachers Association, Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah; a representative of the Students Representative Council (SRC), Mr Samuel Kwaku Entsi Sesahi, and the representative of the Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRADAG), Ms Justina Sarfowaa Fosu.
The rest are a representative of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Mr Mark Kakraba-Ampeh; representative of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Alhaji Yakubu Ahmed Bin Abubakar, and a representative of the Alumni, Dr Kwaku Agbesi. The representative of the Teacher and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) is yet to be named.
Charge
Dr Adutwum charged the members to take serious interest in teaching and learning as well as research in the university, "and begin to see how you can advise government in terms of getting Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to perform its vision and mission."
Mission
Dr Adutwum also tasked the board to ensure that the university did not drift away from its mission of science-biased education.
"I want you to seriously address any issue of mission drift. If you happen to see that the university is offering more courses in social sciences than STEM, you need to take a look at it.
"You, as a council, should be interested in it. I respect every profession but you were set up for a purpose and I think we should not encourage a mission drift," he tasked the board.
Response
Responding, Nana Appenteng expressed gratitude to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the minister for the trust reposed in them and pledged to work up to expectations.
He said their nomination to the board was a call to duty to do public service, adding that the board had taken seriously the charges the minister had given to it.
Nana Appenteng acknowledged that the board recognised human resource as the greatest wealth of any country and education was the facilitator.