‘Let’s depoliticise educational issues’
The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, has called on Ghanaians to depoliticise educational issues and allow governance structures within the institutions to function.
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He said governing councils of the various tertiary institutions should be allowed to function well without any political interference.
“Once elections are over, let us talk about Ghana, not political parties, so that every stakeholder, irrespective of political orientation, is brought on board to help find a lasting solution to our educational predicaments,” he said.
Prof. Oduro was speaking at a delegates congress of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) in Cape Coast last Saturday.
New executive
The event was on the theme: “Depoliticising Ghana’s Educational System: Towards a Policy Framework.”
The congress witnessed the swearing in of the new executive of UTAG, which comprises Dr Eric Opoku Mensah, as the National UTAG President, Dr Eunice Fay Amissah as the National Vice-President, Dr Samuel Berth Boadi-Kusi as the National Secretary and Dr Kojo Okyere as the National Treasurer.
The Executive Committees (NECs) of UTAG for the 10 public universities in the country were also sworn into office.
Prof. Oduro said politicisation of the educational system stifled critical mindedness as some people would keep quiet, even though they had very good ideas because they did not want to be attacked for being critical or objective and given political tags.
“Politicisation has a tendency to pose sustainability challenges to educational policies when there is a change of government,” he added.
Best conditions
The new National President of UTAG, Dr Opoku Mensah, assured UTAG members that the executive of the association would negotiate vigorously to get the best conditions for members and those seeking to join the academic profession.
“We would approach negotiation with open mindedness and goodwill, and we would expect the government to do same in order to forge ahead as development partners of tertiary education in our beloved country,” he said.
Dr Opoku Mensah said under his administration, UTAG would work to create an annual national research and technology fair to bring research findings closer to industry players.
He said such a fair would be a sure way of helping to drive innovations and home-grown technology to support national development.