NEVER AGAIN (APRIL 1, 2009)

EDUCATION holds the key to the development of a knowledge-based society and for this reason governments spend millions of their countries’ resources to provide formal and informal education in order to build a skilful human resource base to manage the affairs of state.
For some time now, the general decline in standards of education has affected both the quantity and quality of graduates who are trained, especially in tertiary institutions.
The universities and other tertiary institutions have become the preserve of only students from well-endowed schools and children of the rich.
Many Ghanaians, therefore, commended the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for deciding to admit students from less-endowed schools who show some academic brilliance.
The initiative offered the opportunity to many more people, particularly those from deprived communities, to access university education.
But news about the inability of 100 students from less-endowed schools in the country who gained admission to the KNUST to register because of financial problems is quite pathetic.
These students could not pay their registration fees of GH¢200 after they had been admitted to the university under a special dispensation for students from less-endowed schools.
However, some people have argued that once the university authorities identified them as coming from less-endowed schools, they could perhaps have made provision for their registration and academic user fees.
Others are of the view that it behoved parents and guardians of the students to have also mobilised resources to enable their children and wards to pursue university education.
It is worth noting that news about this unfortunate development became public during the presentation of scholarships by Nankani and Hagan to 10 students of the university.
We think that the university authorities should liaise with organisations such as Unilever Ghana Limited, the Otumfuo Education Fund, the Okyeman Education Fund, the MTN Foundation, the Northern Education Fund, churches, traditional authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and district assemblies to identify needy students for assistance.
The DAILY GRAPHIC welcomes the concession being extended to students from less-endowed schools.
The case of the 100 students should be a wake-up call to our educational authorities to work out more pragmatic ways to make education more accessible to all children of school age.
Already, a lot is being done by many well-meaning institutions, including the universities, to offer scholarships to needy, brilliant students, but the space needs to be expanded so that those who meet the admission requirement can be accommodated, regardless of their economic backgrounds.
The DAILY GRAPHIC calls on the universities to make their bursary and grant facilities available to needy students to pursue university education without economic difficulties.
Never again should we allow any individual or group of individuals to endure deprivation when the state can initiate policy interventions to take care of the needs of the under-privileged in society. For the best way to improve the economy is through investment in people.