The timing and the subject
matter of the Vice-President’s remarks during yesterday’s Eid El Adha
congregational prayer at the Independence Square was as apt as it was poignant.
It was about education and
the establishment of Ghana’s first all-medical tertiary institution in the
Northern Region.
Such a tertiary institution
when it takes off will augment the number of doctors in especially the northern
parts of the country. The ratio of doctors to our population is below the WHO
standard and for this to change positively government must not only establish
more medical training institutions across the country, but also must encourage
private sector participation in this critical area of our development in consonance
with approved standards anyway.
The foresight of the
President which translated into his request for the establishment of such a
facility in the north from King Salman of Saudi Arabia is worth commending. The
reality of our demography as a nation must come into play in the country’s
development strategies. Those in the north and the Zongo communities constitute
a unique segment of the country and, therefore, deserve special attention in
the establishment of tertiary institutions among other facilities which hold a
special place in our development agenda.
President Akufo-Addo’s
request is a sufficient proof of his foresight in bridging the gap between the
two parts of the country, the south and the north. Above all, it is recognition
of the place of education in the development of the country, a cornerstone of
his stewardship.
Vice-President Mahamudu
Bawumia’s call on parents to take the education of especially girls seriously
is scriptural because Muslims are enjoined by their faith to take the subject
seriously regardless of the sex of the child. It is for this reason that they
are told to seek knowledge even if the quest should take them to China.
Fortunately, the free SHS
wind is blowing and so there is no reason not to have girls especially avail
themselves of the government-given opportunity. We subscribe to the Vice-President’s
call that the girl-child be encouraged to take to science-related programmes.
There are many more opportunities in the sciences and so the Vice-President’s
clarion call, as it is, must be supported by all parents, especially those in
the Zongo communities and the inner cities areas where poverty and ignorance
continue to torment the indigenes.
Education is the only
means of tackling poverty and ignorance – two social diseases whose eradication
is receiving priority attention from government.
The free SHS programme is
the biggest response yet to the dearth of access to education by many a parent
in the country.
The Zongo communities as
evidenced by the remarks by some chiefs within this portion of the country’s
population stand to benefit immensely from the free SHS programme.
Educating the children of
Zongo indigenes and their counterparts in the inner cities is a faith duty. What
better occasion to talk about the subject than on a day when Muslims are
commemorating the great test of Abraham by God when he was asked by God to
sacrifice Ishmael. He passed the test and God replaced Ishmael with a ram.
Let Muslims pass the test of educating their children and smiles would be theirs and the country as a whole. We can only progress from our current state only if we enhance our human resource capacity. Many countries abound which were not endowed with natural resources as we do but are among the developed; they worked assiduously on their human resource capacity and it paid off. We too can do so.
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