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| UNIVERSITY OF GHANA- LEGON |
Minister
of Employment and Labor relations, Hon. Haruna Iddrissu has partly blamed
Universities for the increase in graduate unemployment in the country. He was
speaking at the 17th national biennial congress of the
University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) organized which was held at the
University of Ghana. The congress was on the theme, “Graduate unemployment; a
failure of tertiary education?”
The
minister who touched on the theme from the perspective of government said
universities have not been responsive to the demand of the labor market.
According to him, some Universities which were established to train students in
the areas of science and technology are now competing with other universities
in training students in the Humanities; this he said is a contributory factor
to the worsening graduate unemployment in the country.
Hon
Iddrisu also noted there are many brilliant young Ghanaians, very capable of
studying successfully and becoming medical practitioners but have been denied
the opportunity simply because they were not able to make aggregate 6. He
therefore challenged the Universities to review their curricula to reflect
labor market trends.
“Training
in our country’s universities must reflect acceptable global practices and
standards and as a matter of necessity every student must know the basic skills
of information technology.” he added.
The
Hon. Minister of Employment and labor relations emphasized it remains a policy
decision of government to replace the book and research allowance with the
Tertiary Education Research Fund. Adding that even though cabinet has given
policy approval to the bill which will soon be laid before parliament, UTAG is
free to send memoranda on the bill since it will affect the association. The
bill on the intended research when passed, the minister believes, will help
deal with the frequent strike actions in the Universities.
Also
speaking from the perspective of the academia was the former Provost of the
University of Ghana, Professor Kwaku Osam. He blamed Government, tertiary
institutions as well as Employers for the increasing rate of graduate
unemployment in the country. he explained that the quality of graduates being
churned out can also be attributed to the poor student lecturer ratio. This is
he noted is directly as a result of the increase in yearly admissions in the
universities which culminate in exerting pressure on the few lecturers in the
system. He further lamented on the inability of students to develop soft skills
such as communication and problem solving skills which are needed in the job
market. The former Provost tasked the University Teachers Association to help
develop students holistically to response to the ever changing labour market.
Professor
Osam also called on government to create an enabling environment for the
private sector to expand and create jobs for our teeming youth.
The
occasion was also used to swear in newly elected national and local executives
of the association across the country.
EMMANUEL DZIVENU
(RADIO UNIVERS)
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