UEW confers doctorate degrees on Oquaye, Opoku Prempeh
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged tertiary institutions to find smart ways of collaborating with industry to find workable solutions confronting the nation's workforce.
According to him, it is important that tertiary institutions take critical look at their respective curriculum with the view of modifying the curriculum to meet the current trend and demands of our contemporary world.
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Honorary doctorate degree
President Akufo-Addo stated this in a speech read on his behalf by the Chief of Staff, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, during a special virtual congregation organised by the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) yesterday to confer honorary doctorate degrees on two distinguished personalities.
The two were former Speaker of Parliament, Rt Rev. Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, and current Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh.
The ceremony was graced by relations of the awardees and other high profile government officials including the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, and Deputy Minister designate for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, Central Regional Minister, Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, among others.
Prof. Oquaye
According to the university, Prof. Oquaye is an epitome of dedicated personality, committed legislator, accomplished diplomat, astute politician, avid academician and selfless human being who has made meaningful contributions to the growth of the country.
The former speaker of Parliament was honoured with an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree for his general contributions to the progress of the society in the areas of politics, particularly his political activism during the days of the revolution which led to the birthing of the country’s multi-party democracy as well as in the field of academia.
Opoku-Prempeh
Dr Opoku Prempeh was honoured for successfully seeing to the implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) policy when the current government assumed office in 2017 and saw to the introduction of the teacher licensure examination.
Additionally, he saw to the increase in the capitation grant which had contributed to removing the cost barriers to free access and provided schools with minimum amount of funds required to keep schools running and also took steps to upgrade all colleges of education to university colleges to award a bachelor of education (B.ed) degrees.
Awardees deserve it
President Akufo-Addo commended management of the university for honouring the two personalities, who distinguished themselves in many positions that they occupied in government, saying “I have personally worked with the awardees and continue to work with them.
“I am therefore, happy that UEW has specifically selected my appointees to honour for their efforts towards improvement in education and the general development of the country,” he said.
He further noted that education was the bedrock for developing the human resource base of every nation which was an important ingredient needed to fast-track the rapid transformation of the nation for the benefit of the citizenry.
President Akufo-Addo stressed that the importance of education could not be over-emphasised and that in line with government’s comprehensive agenda to ensure inclusive and accelerated economic development, government had introduced forward looking and bold initiatives to improve the education.
He said the introduction of the free SHS programme, for instance, had given access to thousands of junior high school graduates, who hitherto would have not gained access to tertiary education, describing it as a great social intervention introduced in the history of the country.
Contribution to shaping lives
The Vice Chancellor of UEW, Rev. Fr Professor Anthony Afful-Broni, stated that the awardees had contributed immensely towards shaping the quality of life of Ghanaians and the image of the nation as well.
Gratitude
On behalf of the awardees, Prof. Oquaye expressed gratitude to the university management for the honour done them as it would raise aspirations, widen participation and accentuate social inclusion.
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