Ghana launches fourth higher education fair
Mrs Catherine Haizel, Chief Executive Officer of I- TEXON Ghana, a management solution firm on Tuesday called on parents and guardians to be more concerned about the quality of education offered to their children and wards.
She said there were innumerable options available in other institutions of higher learning in the country to satisfy the needs of many tertiary education seekers.
“Assessing these will avoid pushing their children and wards into prestigious institutions only to be offered programmes or courses they have no interest in or have the background for,” she added.
Mrs Haizel made the call at the launching of the Fourth Higher Education Fair in Accra.
The fair being organised by the management of I-Texon Ghana in partnership with the Ministry of Education and National Council for Tertiary Education, is on the theme “Mop-up; No Student Left Behind”.
Two fairs would be organised this year, the first in Accra from February 17- February 19 and the second at Sunyani from February 24- February 26.
The fairs are to give the public and private institutions the opportunity to sell their institutions to students due to the frustration they go through during selection.
Good programmes in most of the institutions are not pursued because applicants are not aware of their potentials as good career opportunities. The fair would therefore help the beneficiaries to make informed choices.
Mrs Haizel explained that the objective of the fairs was to engender information exchange in order to lessen the numerous problems students faced in the selection and placement in institutions of higher learning.
“Ghana could become a nation of ‘square pegs in round holes’, if the problem of misinformation and prejudiced preferences for ‘popular’ universities are not checked.
“Ghana stands to lose greatly from poorly developed human capital resulting from problems students face in the selection of higher education institutions and courses,” she added.
Mrs Haizel said available statistics indicated that about 150,000 students graduate from Senior High Schools (SHS) every year, out of which only about 30 per cent gained admission into institutions of higher learning.
She pointed out that of the remaining 70 per cent, only five per cent could not qualify to enter any tertiary institution; the 65 per cent left were either uninformed or had been orientated to believe that the only suitable avenue after SHS are the popular universities.
“They therefore, channel all their energies into gaining admission to these universities where incidentally, there are limited slots available. Most of them do not gain access and have to re-apply the following year, “Mrs Haizel added.
She described the situation as waste of time and resources considering that there were innumerable options available in other institutions of higher learning in the country to satisfy many tertiary education seekers.
Mrs Haizel therefore, called on the society to make conscious effort to access the much needed information on tertiary institutions at the fairs.
Dr Joseph Samuel Annan, Deputy Minister of Education (Tertiary Education), said although public institutions could absorb about 35,000 students and private institutions, most of them had vacancies because their programmes were not adequately publicised.
He said parents and guardians could not afford the high fees after their children and wards had gained admission, or take advantage of institutional mechanisms available due to lack of information hence their children and wards became drop outs.
Dr Annan expressed the hope the fairs would help solve the problem of “upgrades” where students acquired their first degrees in various disciplines to increase their marketability.
He attributed the cause of this phenomenon to the uncertainty of the students in choosing programmes.
“The type of orientation in institutions of higher learning is what makes the individual marketable and should equip the student with specific skills to tackle challenges in the society objectively,” he added.
Dr Annan called on the society to be proactive in making cogent decisions to secure the future of the youth by offering them access to comprehensive and relevant information key to development.
Source: GNA