Ministry Of Education To Review Submission

The Ministry of Education is in the process of reviewing a submission from the National Council for Tertiary Education on differentiation and diversification of tertiary education, Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has announced in Wa. He said when completed, institutions would be held strictly accountable for their mandates, aimed to improve the efficiency and accountability in the system. Vice President Amissah-Arthur made this known at the 15th Congregation of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies in Wa on Saturday. He said government was committed to improving quality and equitable access to tertiary education in Ghana and mentioned three initiatives that government had put in place to achieve quality education. One of those initiatives, Vice President Amissah-Arthur said had been the framework and governance structure for the establishment of a university in the Eastern Region, which had been completed and awaiting parliamentary approval. A draft bill and guidelines for the conversion of Polytechnics to Technical Universities aimed to rebranding technical and vocational education had also been finalised and that would ensure closer link between the world of work and training of personnel with technical skills. The Vice President said quality education had been a priority of government and that government had conducted a review of the teacher education programme, and at the same migrating colleges of education to full tertiary status. He commended UDS for providing training to various categories of health service personnel for the health institutions across the entire country. Vice President Amissah-Arthur said, with the recent introduction of nurse anesthesia and doctor of biomedical laboratory science programmes, the UDS was now training different categories of nurses in increasing numbers. Talking about the second National Sanitation Day, Vice President Amissah-Arthur acknowledged Ghanaians for taking part in the national clean up and appealed to them to avoid littering and keep the environment clean to prevent the outbreak of malaria, cholera and diarrhea. He cautioned Ghanaians to be vigilant and report promptly any suspected case of Ebola to the nearest hospital for proper diagnoses and appropriate intervention. Ghanaians must also familarised themselves with the early warning signs of the disease, while they maintain personal hygiene. The UDS was established in 1993 with an intake of 40 students but now has a student population of 19,194 for all the programmes it offers at the different Faculties and Schools. The Wa Campus of UDS graduated 3,896 graduates, who were awarded postgraduate and undergraduate degrees and diplomas.