The Akufo-Addo government has reiterated its commitment to achieve a 40 per cent increase of enrolment of students into tertiary education by 2030 as part of the transformation agenda of the education sector.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 2021 State of the Nation Address said 64 years after independence, the country still did not have the critical mass of tertiary education graduates that required for its socio-economic transformation.
Therefore, the need to introduce measures to increase consciously the proportion of the population with relevant tertiary education to accelerate the transformation of the country.
Speaking at the 2022 Ghana Teacher Prize day in Tamale on Wednesday, October 5, Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia stated the current ratio of 20% is not enough to propel the nation towards its industrialization drive and therefore the government has been investing heavily in tertiary institutions to be able to absorb the numbers graduating from the TVET and the Senior High Schools.
However, Dr Bawumia indicated the role of teachers is critical than any other in-school factor that influences education outcomes, emphasizing that, “All these strategies to use education to transform our nation can only happen when we have our teachers on our side.”
Teachers’ role
The Vice President said teachers are profoundly essential to the world because they deliver education and as the world acknowledges that education is the most powerful weapon that fights poverty, insecurity, environmental degradation, gender and racial discrimination, diseases and many other human sufferings, it is important that those who deliver education are well acknowledged and appreciated.
He asserted the massive investment in the country’s education system including teachers tells the value President Akufo-Addo place on education to ensure the development of our human capital and nation building.
Nevertheless, Dr Bawumia posited the massive investment in education will come to nothing if our teachers do not rise to the occasion and respond positively to the great vision of transforming our nation through education.
“It is a proven fact that no nation in the world has developed without a conscious investment in its education system and the teachers who deliver the education” he added.
Ghana Teacher Prize
Highlighting on the theme for this year’s celebration: “The Transformation of education begins with teachers”, Dr Bawumia said this synchronizes very well with the government’s education transformation agenda, explaining this agenda hinges on the training of the population to be creative, innovative, critical thinkers and technologically astute to lead our forward march towards the 4th industrial revolution.
Policy intervention
The Vice President stressed, “It is in the light of this that the government has introduced the standard based curriculum that focuses on the four Rs – Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and cReativity which will lead to 21st century skills of critical thinking, innovation, collaboration, communication and problem-solving.”
He continued, “The intentional and focused attention on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is to equip our people to compete favourably in the world of technology and artificial intelligence. This is what will make our growing youthful population employable, this is what will make them entrepreneurial, and this is what will boost industrialization under the One District One Factory agenda.”
