The Ministry of Education in collaboration with its agencies and other local and international partners has commenced the 2023 National Education Week at the Labadi Beach Hotel, Accra.
The event, currently in its 6th year, is to assess the performance of government policies, programmes and projects in the education sector.
Present at the event are development partners, academicians, industry players, directors of education, students, policymakers, researchers and others.
Opening the session, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in an address read for him, acknowledged and applauded the useful contributions this platform has been in shaping key policy interventions in the sector through the creation of the needed avenue for stakeholders in the education space to deliberate on best practices to improve education delivery in Ghana.
He stated that “mindful of the reality that education is the best investment, the government under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo since January 2017 has invested massively for the growth and development of human capital in the country through the implementation of the innovative and transformative programmes in education”.
The Vice President mentioned some of the key innovative and transformative programs in the education sector as the roll-out of Free SHS and TVET; equitable provision of infrastructure at all levels; restoration of teacher trainee allowances; harmonization and prioritization of TVET education with the passage of the Pre-Tertiary Act, 2020 (Act 1049); review of the previous curriculum to focus on 21st century skills and the deepening of inclusive, special and complementary education.
Dr Bawumia described the nation’s effort at using STEM education as a driving force for national transformation as crucial and called on all stakeholders to contribute their quota towards its development and sustenance.
“I stand before you today to emphasize the utmost importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in shaping the future of Ghana. As the Vice President of our great nation, it is both an honour and a responsibility to advocate for the development of a robust STEM and TVET ecosystem that empowers our youth and drives Ghana into a new era of innovation and progress,” he said.
He added that “the evolution of 21st century skills and the digitalization era has increased calls for the training of our students in various fields with much focus on STEM and TVET. Indeed, as a country, we cannot overemphasize the overall importance of STEM and TVET education to our socio-economic transformation”.
The Vice President described the theme for this year’s event, ‘Education Delivery for National Transformation: The Case for STEM and TVET’ as very appropriate and timely, where all odds point to the fact that the nation needs to produce a critical mass of human capital with the right skills mix to drive government’s transformation agenda.
The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, praised the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the huge budget support he has been voting for the education sector leading to a massive transformation in the sector.
He described the ongoing transformation in the education sector as a catalyst for national development and called on all stakeholders to continue supporting the government to ensure that the outcomes would continue to improve
The Education Minister assured the nation of the Ministry’s readiness to foster closer ties with all stakeholders to promote the development of education in the country.
The Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, who chaired the function described the current craving for STEM and TVET education in the country as very laudable since it held the key to changing the state of development in the country.
She reminded the youth to embrace STEM and TVET education which held the key to job creation for the country.
Source:Fiilafmonline/JoyNews
