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Professor Emmanuel Kojo Sekyi, Rector of the Ho Polytechnic, has commended the Ministry of Education for initiating the “Campus Connect” Initiative.

He, therefore, urged students of tertiary institutions to take advantage of the Initiative, to voice out their concerns and grievances as students to government.

Prof Sekyi was speaking at the Campus Connect programme at the weekend at the Ho Polytechnic in the Volta Region.

The "Campus Connect" initiative was officially launched in Tamale at the University for Development Studies some months ago, by the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with student leaders and managements of tertiary institutions, to strengthen the relations between Government and the student body.

The initiative was also to bring governance to the doorsteps of students, and to train and educate world class individuals.

He said the initiative brought together policy makers to address the challenges of students, and that a lot of issues were happening on our University campuses beyond the control of the Ministry of Education.

Prof Sekyi therefore, said, the presence of government officials provided the opportunity to deliberate on the challenges and find solutions to them.

Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, said events of this nature were crucial to government.

He said it was committed to provide the opportunity to take stock of activities as its corporate responsibility, to bring governance to the doorsteps of students.

He said the initiative formed part of President John Dramani Mahama's pledge to promote accountable and transparent governance to all stakeholders, who, in diverse ways, were complementing the efforts of government towards the provision of quality education.

Mr Ablakwa said the initiative was non-partisan, and had so far been replicated at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the Accra Polytechnic campuses.

He gave the assurance that it would be replicated on the campuses of all other tertiary institutions, to address student challenges.

He said the initiative was an addition to the now institutionalized annual meeting of student leaders and officials of the Ministry of Education, to stimulate intellectual discussions on governance in our higher institutions of learning.

Mr Fiifi Fiave Kwetey, Minister of Food and Agriculture, said the initiative demonstrated the importance government attached to student bodies, adding that, students were partners to the initiative, and were expected to table out their issues appropriately for redress.

He said recent advances in the economies of sub-Saharan Africa, influenced by global trends, had necessitated the need for innovation resulting in competition in several areas, such as youth employment and skills acquisition, due to the increasing number of youth for the insufficient job market.

Mr Francis Komla Panyaglo, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, noted that one of the cardinal principles of good governance was feedback, which the initiative sought to provide to government and students.

Other speakers at the programme included Mrs Joyce Bawa Mugtar, Deputy Minister of Transport, Dr Bernice Heloo, a Deputy Minister of the Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mrs Dzifa Gomashie, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Students Loans Trust, Mrs Shiela Naa Boamah.