His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has called on stakeholders of tertiary education to seriously start planning towards the imminent increase in demand for University education due to the Free Senior High School(S.H.S.) policy.
The Asantehene made this call at the climax of the 52nd Congregation Ceremony of the KNUST. The Chancellor called on the Ministry of Education, the National Council for Tertiary Education and the Vice Chancellors Ghana to get to the drawing board and start planning on how to effectively handle the upcoming situation.
He continued” The free SHS is a laudable policy and when properly executed we as a nation would applaud it. In the next two years, the first batch of students under the free Senior High School (SHS) policy will come out and this will double the number of students seeking enrolment into our tertiary institutions. This is a reality we cannot pretend to be unaware of. The potential increase in enrolment at the tertiary level would require corresponding increase in resources, both financial and human to be able to cope with the student numbers. “
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II expressed regret that there has not been any serious and visible attempt by Government at providing additional halls of residence. This, he noted has resulted in an unpleasant yet pragmatic on-campus student accommodation policy where only first year students are provided with accommodation in the traditional halls of residence.
He added that currently, the University has about seventy percent of her students staying outside the traditional halls of residence with its security and mobility challenges. If enrolment has to increase, then the time to act to support the provision of additional halls of residence is now, he stated.
He concluded his address by calling on government to increase the current student-teacher-ratio of 50:1 to at least half the ratio to a respectable 25:1. This should enable the University fulfil its mandate of not only continuing to provide the manpower backbone of the country but also provide the succinct research base to power this country.
Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso, Vice-Chancellor, stated that the KNUST’s One District One Factory has started production with reference to the University’s partnership with Knights Ghana Limited, the Sunyani Greenfield Cooperative Mango Producers and Marketing Society Limited and the Mentukwa Community last year. He revealed that a fruit-processing facility has been built at Mentukwa in the Sunyani West District of the Brong Ahafo Region.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, the facility is part of efforts to enhance the livelihoods of people, reduce post-harvest losses and to provide ready market to local farmers in the communities. The factory is now in full operation and producing 350 to 450 litres of mango, orange or pineapple fruit juice concentrate per hour. He revealed that the facility will be commissioned before the end of year.
Honourable Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Education, said the imminent challenge of the increase in enrolment called for all “to think outside the box” for solutions but insisted that no qualified Ghanaian child would be excluded from accessing free S.H.S.
He urged public universities to consider enrolling more students from poor backgrounds in line with reserving 30% of places in the leading Senior High Schools. He noted that education is the catalyst for poverty eradication and promotion of prosperity and called for more access to it.
In all a total of 6,528 graduated at this year’s Congregation ceremony. Out of this number, 5,848 had undergraduate degrees conferred on them while 680 received graduate degrees. Sixty-one (61) candidates were awarded PhD degrees.