Ing. Prof. Nana Osei-Wusu Achaw, Vice Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) has recommended that the government must invest heavily in technical education to serve as a tangible legacy to push the nation forward.
His recommendation comes from his conviction that governments have not adequately committed much in technical education in Ghana and therefore finds investment in the area wanting.
He said Ghana as a nation is already awakened to the need to subscribe to technical education as a prescription for growth except that investment in the area is not encouraging.
Prof. Owusu Achaw, who was speaking to The Chronicle in an interview on the role of technical education and the impact on the economy so far, found investment in the technical education wanting which he attributes to the fact that most politicians are from the Grammar systems hence their inclination to support education and the subsequent wrong footing and weak base for technical education.
He reminded politicians that it is time they move away from the preoccupation of politics and propel the country towards industrialization on the back of technical education.
Prof. Owusu Achaw further noted that the bulk of education generally is centred on the Grammar system for which about 150 Senior High schools have been established against the meagre 20 technical institutions in the country.
“Ghana has a choice to do the right investment”, he said pointing to the digitization policy of the NPP government as a better legacy than the free SHS, because it has addressed tax evasion which has been a drain on the economy for far too long and stressed that “Digitization of the economy is a better legacy than the Free SHS”.
Prof. Owusu Achaw noted that it will be in the interest of the government, as ultimate beneficiaries, to support technical institutions to churn out graduates to support industries for growth since they are in the end accountable to the people.
According to him, technical education is the way to go hence the need to shift or drift towards stepping up technical education to grow the economy as China and Singapore.
He said it is necessary and proper that the government focuses on promoting technical skills to drive innovations to support industries for the needed economic growth.
The Vice Chancellor said it is only when technical skills at all levels and graduate courses as well as research are geared towards supporting and propelling industries that the country would be on the right path to growth and development.
The KsTU VC has therefore suggested that the study of science and mathematics must be encouraged in the Senior High schools where only 25% of the over 50,000 students are studying science.
Meanwhile, the VC has indicated that the KsTU is ready to resume academic work having put the requisite physical infrastructure in place for effective teaching and learning.
The VC revealed that management has invested in online systems to ensure that Virtual classes (V- classes), adopted in the face of COVID-19 over the past four months are effective to yield results.
He said the over 700 staff are ready to take on the 10,000 students through smooth academic work via virtual classes (online learning) for continuing students while new students (fresher’s) prepare to report in January 2021.
The post Technical Education is tangible legacy than Free SHS -KsTU VC appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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