EDUCATION IS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF DEV (NSEMPA, PAGE 15)

By Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Sunyani.

THE wealth of a nation is increasingly being defined in terms of the educational level of its people and it is the educational base or human resource development, which has become an important component for economic, cultural and social development.
By the vision 2015 document of the country, Ghana has set itself a target of becoming a middle-income country like Malaysia, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, who stated this in Sunyani, the Regional capital, pointed out that those countries are what they are now, due to the scientific and technical expertise as well as the quality of human resources they possess.
Speaking at the 25th Anniversary celebration and Speech and Prize Giving Day of the Twene Amanfo Senior High Technical School (TAMSTECH) in Sunyani last weekend, the Regional Minister, stressed that Taiwan is the world’s third largest manufacturer of computers.
The theme for the celebration was Enhancing Technical /Vocational Education for National Development.
He said as a region “We have clearly recognized the compelling need for us to tailor education, not only to the aspirations and manpower needs of our people and nation, but also to meet the needs of the global market as well as enhance our competitiveness.”
Mr Baffour-Awuah noted that since the colonial era and for the better part of independence, educational facilities were not only limited, but were also unevenly distributed in the country as a result of which some communities were deprived of the needed educational facilities.
He said successive governments have made strenuous efforts to address this imbalance and with the introduction of various policies and programmes by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, considerable progress has been made in changing the educational landscape.
For example he said, in spite of very pressing and legitimate demands from other social sectors, the government continued to devote about one third of its national budget to education.
The Headmistress of the school, Ms Georgina Boakye said accommodation for staff of the school was woefully inadequate considering the fact that out of the 63 teachers, only six were housed by the school.
She indicated that the unavailability of an administration block had compelled the school authorities, to convert classrooms into offices for administrative purposes, which she said, hadled to overcrowding in the classrooms.
Since its inception, Ms Boakye pointed out that the school had not benefited from any vehicle, except the wooden truck, which was donated by the Valco Aluminium Company (VALCO) in 1989, which had outlived its usefulness while its maintenance had become a drain on the meager resources of the school.
Mr Fosuaba Mensah Banahene, the Administrator of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND), the guest speaker, disclosed that since 2001 the GETFUND has spent a total of GH¢ 12,446,644 on infrastructural development in 20 technical institutions in the country.