By Prince Acquah
Cape Coast, Oct 21, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says government will not renege on its commitment to providing quality education and equal opportunities for the youth.
He said in spite of the current economic difficulties the country faced, government would continue to intervene and provide free and quality basic and secondary education for the Ghanaian youth.
He opined that education must remain a right for all Ghanaian children and not a privilege and that investment in education yielded the greatest dividend.
“Today’s youth, running barefooted to school could be a future leader in the arts, business, industry or government. Education is the equaliser of opportunities,” the President said.
“I want every child to attend school not just for what they learn in books but for the life experiences they will gain.”
President Akufo-Addo was addressing a grand durbar to climax the 60th Anniversary celebration of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) on Thursday.
The University launched its 60th Anniversary on Thursday, April 21, this year on the theme: “60 Years of Quality Higher Education, Expanding the Frontiers”.
Established in October 1962, it had an initial intake 165 in two programmes of the Arts and Sciences.
Current the university has a student population of more than 74,000 pursuing 425 programmes of study including Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery and Optometry.
The anniversary celebrated its achievements and impact on Ghana and the globe in its 60 years of existence and reflected on the setbacks to re-strategise for higher feat.
The six-month-long celebration was marked by a number of activities including professorial and memorial lectures, health walks, college days, media engagements, Chancellor’s Day, games and sporting activities, alumni homecoming, awards and dinner night.
The colourful durbar, attended by hundreds of stakeholders including the ministers of state, Members of Parliament and delegations from partner universities, therefore, crowned the celebrations.
President Akufo-Addo acknowledged the increased enrolment at the tertiary level owing to the Free Senior High School Policy, which required urgent actions for expansion to accommodate the growing numbers.
He, therefore, assured the UCC of government’s commitment to supporting it to expand its infrastructure to meet current demands.
Touting the achievement of the UCC, Professor Johnson Nyarko Boampong, the Vice-Chancellor, said for the second consecutive time the university had been adjudged the Best University in Ghana and in West Africa and the Fourth in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking.
He described the feat as unprecedented in the history of any university in Ghana, and a demonstration of its contribution to education and impact on research.
He said management had undertaken a raft of initiatives including the construction of various edifices to improve the quality of graduates produced.
Prof Boampong appealed to the President give the school clearance to recruit new academic staff to improve teaching and learning.
He observed that the Free SHS Policy had resulted in a significant increase in class sizes for which reason new staff were needed to lessen the burdened on the current overstretched staff.
GNA