Sam Jonah, others brainstorm at Graphic Development Series

The Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Sir Sam Jonah KBE, will lead a strong panel to brainstorm the impact of education on national life when the Graphic National Development Series (GNDS) takes centre stage at the Kofi Ohene-Konadu Auditorium of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), at 9 a.m today. 

Sir Sam will deliver the keynote address on the theme: “A critical look at education and culture in Ghana to chart a course of national development, peace and our collective prosperity”.

Speakers

After his address, a rich panel of industry experts will have a round-table discussion on the highlights of the speech and also make vital inputs into how to make education more relevant to the highly competitive job market.

The panellists comprise a former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei; a Professor of Religious and Moral Education at UCC and Chairman of the Akyem Abuakwa Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Seth Asare-Danso, and a consultant in the industry, Dr Richard Atuahene, who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of Safewings Investments Limited.

Graphic National Development Series (GNDS) is a strategic platform that discusses development issues with a focus on national consensus in a non-partisan environment.  

The thought leadership platform was specially created by the Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) to examine pertinent areas of the nation’s livelihood, have conversations around them and chart the way forward. 

Context

The Director, Sales and Marketing, of GCGL, Franklin Sowa, explained that the company had held similar conversations around agriculture and health in the recent past, and that the focus was on education today.

“Now, the thinking is that based on the various reforms that we have gone through in terms of the impact on ways of living, on industry, politics, economy and everything, are we in a better place or things could be better?” he asked.

Mr Sowa said the event would also look at what was being done right and what was not, and how things could be done differently going into the future, based on contemporary developments.

The country, Mr Sowa added, was not isolated from the rest of the world, “So if there is industrialisation everywhere, information technology, digitalisation, and so many things happening globally, how do we ensure that the output from our educational system and infrastructure, as they are today, are contributing and competitive enough to meet global needs and demands?” he asked.

He said there was also the issue of graduate unemployment and how the current educational structure, curriculum and content, as well as the assessment formats, among other factors, responded to those issues.

Mr Sowa said the event would discuss whether the issues raised were helping Ghanaians to be globally competitive or were not addressing the problems of the country, the sub-region or even Africa, let alone the world at large.

The Director Marketing and Sales stressed that the conversation was about how the educational system was making Ghanaians ready for the opportunities that were being created globally.

Today’s event will be streamed live on all digital platforms of the GCGL, including Facebook, Graphic Online and YouTube.