50th New Year School on Education

Legon, (Greater Accra) 4 Jan. '99,

The 50th New Year School of the Institute of Adult Education(IAE) ended at Legon with a suggestion that education be given value and made a continuous process. "A well informed country with a human-centred approach to development is a prerequisite to good governance, poverty alleviation and national development." Mr Samuel Badu-Nyarku, rapporteur-general, in a report said resources must be made available for distance education programmes to enhance access to education. The school was on the theme "Education for Development - Challenges for the 21st Century". It was attended by 325 persons from all over the country. The participants said a new look at funding tertiary education should see all stakeholders contributing "significantly" instead of relying "heavily" on the government. The participants said enterpreneurship education, training and development issues must be incorporated into all levels of school curricula to help pupils identify business opportunities. On the improvement of public health education, participants called on all stakeholders to co-ordinate their activities for to get maximum effect. They further called for the establishment of a fund for research, product development, and marketing of tourism. Furthermore, an Equal Opportunity Commission must be set up to address the problems of the disadvantaged in the society. Most of the participants interviewed agreed that the new year school was worth attending and appealed to institutions to sponsor their employees to attend subsequent ones.