Use knowledge to advance development -Prof. Sraku-Lartey appeals
The President of the Presbyterian University College (PUC), Professor Samuel Sraku-Lartey, has urged people to use their knowledge and academic credentials to serve Ghana and promote national development.
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He said the essence of education and knowledge acquisition was to position people to help develop society and not to grab national resources under the guise of rendering service to the nation.
Giving the keynote address at a joint matriculation of fresh students admitted to the Tema and Akropong campuses in Tema, Prof. Sraku-Lartey challenged the students to be honest and disciplined.
In all, the school matriculated 1,078 students at the various campuses for the 2013/2014 academic year, bringing the total population of the school to about 3,000; 50 per cent of them females.
Three hundred of the matriculants are offering Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Business Administration, B.Sc. in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), BSc Agribusiness and B.Sc. Mathematics and Economics at the Kwahu campus; 300 are reading Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Rural and Community Development and Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Environmental and Natural Resource Management at the Akuapem campus.
Others are about 500 students reading BSc in Nursing and BSc in Physician Assistant programmes at the Asante-Akyem campus, while 128 are reading BSc in Business Administration at the Tema campus.
He noted that “from what we hear daily from the media, it’s obvious that disciplined and honest leaders are fast becoming endangered species in Ghana,” he said, and added that we, as stakeholders, must prepare men and women who would apply their knowledge in the service of country and humanity.
He said the PUC was poised to turn out disciplined men of integrity who were relevant to the national development by training all who passed through any of their campuses of study in discipline and hard work, as had been the hallmark of the Presbyterian Church.
Prof. Sraku-Lartey also said in spite of the admission of such an appreciable number, the school was compelled to turn away qualified students, especially those who wanted to read the Nursing and Physician Assistant programmes for lack of accommodation and other infrastructure and reiterated the need for the government to support private universities.
He indicated that as part of the expansion drive, it was awaiting accreditation to offer programmes such as MBA and M.Phil. in Actuarial Science, Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Shipping and Logistics Management and Communications, among others.
A 72-year-old man who was among the matriculants reading Business Economics at the Tema campus was commended for his initiative in pursuing further education at such an advanced age and encouraged to instill that quest for education in his grandchildren.
Reverend Agyei Mantey, the District Pastor of the Tema Community Church, advised the matriculants to be guided by the oath and the tenets of discipline and hard work, which PCG was noted for, to make a difference in society.
He said the church recognised the role of education in empowering people to be able to perform their service to mankind and had since the 20th century established over 2,000 educational institutions, including basic, secondary, vocational/technical, teacher, nursing, and now the university to give practical meaning to its recognition.
