Government Devoted To Quality Education Delivery - President Mills

The NDC government is devoted to the delivery of quality, relevant and excellent tertiary education to facilitate the development of world-class human resources to support national development. The President John Evans Atta Mills said this in an address read for him by the Minister of Education, Madam Betty-Mould Iddrisu, at the 16th Congregation of the Winneba of Education, Winneba, on Saturday. President Mills said the Government is not oblivious of the challenges facing tertiary institutions especially, the universities. �The Government is aware that in spite of the modest gains in tertiary education, the sector still grapples with a number of challenges�. These include issues relating to funding, limited access, equity, quality, relevance, programme diversity and research, he said. The said the Government is committed to collaborating with stakeholders in finding solutions to these challenges. According to him, it is in pursuit of this that the Government is investing so much in education, adding, the various interventions being made in the educational sector in general are not for fun. President Mills said the distribution of exercise books and textbooks are all geared towards promotion of equity and access in education in the country. �Additionally, the establishment of two new public universities in the Volta and Brong Ahafo Regions, the completion of on-going and initiation of new physical and academic infrastructural project on the various campuses of public universities attest to government�s commitment in this regard�. According to the President, the World Bank has acknowledge that economic growth is as much as a process of knowledge accumulation as capital accumulation (World Bank, 2002) In this regard, tertiary education in Ghana should be re-oriented to provide the knowledge base that would foster economic development. The Chancellor of the UEW, Alhaji Dr Asoma Abu Banda, said 18,531 students graduated and were presented with degrees, diplomas and certificates. He said from a humble beginning in 1992 with student population of 1,889, the University of Education, Winneba can now boast of 17, 630 full-time students, 8,636 sandwich/part-time and 23,746 distance education students. He said the University has endeared itself to its core mandate of teacher education. Alhaji Dr Banda said the opening of the fourth campus destined as College of Languages Education at Ajumako, is likely to propel the University of Education, Winneba, as the only Public University with multiple campuses across the country. The Vice Chancellor of the UEW, Professor Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, called for more assistance from the Government and other international agencies to improve facilities. He said the UEW has plans to develop the Central Campus in Winneba into an academic centre for the teaching, learning and research in Africa culture and Arts.