By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Kumasi, Nov. 11, GNA – The Government of Ghana has been reminded to take urgent steps and facilitate the recruitment of academic staff for public universities.
“This will be the right thing to do considering the teeming youth of SHS graduates that the Free SHS Policy has produced and the need for them to receive quality education at the tertiary level.
This is also needed for Ghana’s socio-economic transformation,” Professor John Tia Bugri, the Provost, College of Art and Built Environment at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) appealed.
He appealed the 57th KNUST Congregation Ceremony for the College at the Great Hall, Kumasi.
A total of 1,577 undergraduates were presented with certificates from the College.
Out of this, 928 are males and 649 are females.
Prof. Bugri, throwing more light on the need for the deployment of more academic, staff cited that enrolment for the 2022/2023 academic year increased from 15,709 to 18,697 which was approximately a 19 per cent increment relative to that of the 2021/2022 academic year.
This figure included 7,000 students in the College’s five affiliate colleges of education that were under the mentorship of the Faculty of Educational Studies.
“This means that of the remaining approximately 11,600 students, only 168 full-time academic staff are available to carry the burden of teaching.
Indeed, this leaves us with a student-teacher ratio of 1:68 as against the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) norm of 1:18 for the practical-oriented nature of the programme we run in the College,” he said.
Prof. Bugri however commended the staff and students at the College for striving to ensure that teaching and learning were successful despite the circumstances of restrained instructors.
He said the College would continue to embrace partnerships to enhance research for human development.
GNA