EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP KEY

17/03/08
THE need for a mutually beneficial relationship between universities and industry was emphasised by the Minister of Education, Science and Sports at the weekend at the congregation of the University of Ghana, Legon.
The call by the minister to many, may not have come as a surprise as that is a concern that has been raised every now and then.
Traditionally, the universities have been looked up to as key partners in the quest to empower the country economically and politically. Thus, industry also looks up to the universities not only for a significant portion of their human resource base but also research findings on how they can improve on their products and services.
For a long time, such calls appear to have gone unheeded especially by our traditional universities. There has always been the rebuff that universities don’t exist for industry alone.
But, clearly, the immense benefits industry and universities can derive from each other cannot be ignored and the need for a mutually beneficial relationship becomes even more imperative as the job market gets more competitive in the wake of the mushrooming of private universities in all corners of the country.
Many parents and individuals have been compelled to invest huge sums of money to get university education for their children and themselves and at the end of the day they must be able to reap the benefits of university education.
While it is important to ensure that universities, whether public or private, are delivering quality education it is equally critical to encourage the universities to provide courses and programmes that will promote the growth of industry and ultimately help improve the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
Academia stands to gain from investments made by industry for research into industrial activities and the flow of such investments can only be steady when the industries can benefit adequately from the human resources provided by our universities.
University authorities must also bear in mind that students are becoming increasingly aware of the demands of the job market and will stop at nothing to ensure that they position themselves well to make the best of what the job markets offer.
Hence, the attraction of universities to students, parents and guardians in the near future may to a large extent depend on the courses they offer and how relevant they are to industry.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that the issue must not only rest with the university authorities and captains of industry but also the government, which is a major beneficiary of the growth of industry and our universities.
The government must play a key role in fostering such collaboration and that should involve the Ministries of Education, Science and Sports as well as the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment.
The DAILY GRAPHIC also wishes to encourage the pursuance of an effective industrial attachment programme that will seek to equip students with the necessary industrial exposure and make them more beneficial to industry after they graduate from our universities.
Beyond such attachments, there could also be a forum for university teachers and captains of industry to discuss issues of common interest pertaining to the growth of industry and universities and how they can explore mutually beneficial relationships.
We believe that this is the way to go as we confront a new economic era where competition is very keen and globalisation places premium on excellence in the delivery of tertiary education.

EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP KEY

17/03/08
THE need for a mutually beneficial relationship between universities and industry was emphasised by the Minister of Education, Science and Sports at the weekend at the congregation of the University of Ghana, Legon.
The call by the minister to many, may not have come as a surprise as that is a concern that has been raised every now and then.
Traditionally, the universities have been looked up to as key partners in the quest to empower the country economically and politically. Thus, industry also looks up to the universities not only for a significant portion of their human resource base but also research findings on how they can improve on their products and services.
For a long time, such calls appear to have gone unheeded especially by our traditional universities. There has always been the rebuff that universities don’t exist for industry alone.
But, clearly, the immense benefits industry and universities can derive from each other cannot be ignored and the need for a mutually beneficial relationship becomes even more imperative as the job market gets more competitive in the wake of the mushrooming of private universities in all corners of the country.
Many parents and individuals have been compelled to invest huge sums of money to get university education for their children and themselves and at the end of the day they must be able to reap the benefits of university education.
While it is important to ensure that universities, whether public or private, are delivering quality education it is equally critical to encourage the universities to provide courses and programmes that will promote the growth of industry and ultimately help improve the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
Academia stands to gain from investments made by industry for research into industrial activities and the flow of such investments can only be steady when the industries can benefit adequately from the human resources provided by our universities.
University authorities must also bear in mind that students are becoming increasingly aware of the demands of the job market and will stop at nothing to ensure that they position themselves well to make the best of what the job markets offer.
Hence, the attraction of universities to students, parents and guardians in the near future may to a large extent depend on the courses they offer and how relevant they are to industry.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that the issue must not only rest with the university authorities and captains of industry but also the government, which is a major beneficiary of the growth of industry and our universities.
The government must play a key role in fostering such collaboration and that should involve the Ministries of Education, Science and Sports as well as the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment.
The DAILY GRAPHIC also wishes to encourage the pursuance of an effective industrial attachment programme that will seek to equip students with the necessary industrial exposure and make them more beneficial to industry after they graduate from our universities.
Beyond such attachments, there could also be a forum for university teachers and captains of industry to discuss issues of common interest pertaining to the growth of industry and universities and how they can explore mutually beneficial relationships.
We believe that this is the way to go as we confront a new economic era where competition is very keen and globalisation places premium on excellence in the delivery of tertiary education.

BAWKU NEEDS PEACE NOW!

THE good people of Ghana woke up on New Year’s Day, 2008, to the rather unpalatable news that violence had erupted in Bawku in the Upper East Region between the two dominant ethnic groups in the area, the Kusasis and the Mamprusis.
At that time, it was given out in news reports that the conflict was over which of the two ethnic groups had the right to celebrate the Samanpiib Festival and that the whole issue bordered on one group claiming superiority over the other.
Since the eruption of communal violence late last year, the government has put in various measures to bring the situation under control, including the imposition of curfew on Bawku and its environs, including Pusiga, Binduri and Zoosi.
But, sad to say, in spite of these measures and the amount of money which is being spent on maintaining security, law and order in the area, there have been sporadic skirmishes at the least provocation, with the latest being the clash which resulted in the death of two young men on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.
In the course of the violence, many lives have been lost, property, including houses and stores, burnt down, many people injured, not to talk about the general insecurity that has been engendered.
To think that all this is taking place in an area which is part of what is doubtlessly considered one of the most deprived areas of the country puts the whole affair in some bad light.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that yesterday’s meeting between President J. A. Kufuor and some chiefs, opinion leaders and politicians from the Bawku area at the Castle, Osu, had been necessitated by the desperate need to find a lasting solution to the conflict which, to many, is becoming intractable.
The President’s appeal to the people to partner the government in its efforts to secure durable and lasting peace in the area so that development could go on there must be heeded.
This is because, as we have said in these columns before, only the people of Bawku can bring peace to the area by their actions, comments and attitudes.
Like the President, we concede that there are traditional differences in Bawku, just as it is elsewhere in the country, but we also feel that it lies within the power of the people and their leaders to subsume themselves under those differences and live together as one people with a common destiny.
If they fail to do this, then it means they are sacrificing their own prosperity and development and those of their children and their children’s children on the alter of ethnic conflict which, in our opinion, will not do them no good except bringing them pain, dejection, squalor and deprivation.
Now that all the stakeholders in the Bawku conflict have come together to determine the way forward, the DAILY GRAPHIC expects them to be candid enough to bring out both the immediate and remote causes of the conflict so that, collectively, they can bid farewell to violence and live in peace.
The farming season is just around the corner and so it is in the interest of the people of Bawku themselves and the entire country for peace to prevail so that the farmers among them could go about their farming activities without let or hindrance.
Let us give peace a chance in Bawku, for the benefits to be derived from it are enormous.

ENHANCING GHANA-US TIES

13/03/08
ONE of the drivers of regional integration is the free movement of people and goods across national borders.
However, unfortunately for us in the West African sub-region, it is always a nightmare to travel across borders, even now, 33 years after the formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Although the benefits of a globalised economy, which has reduced the world to a small village, are enormous, most Third World countries find it difficult to come to terms with the present reality.
Meanwhile, business opportunities abound in the West African sub-region which has a population of more than 250 million. What is needed is for the 16-member economic union to pool resources and work in concert to reap the immense human and material potential in the region.
In the opinion of the DAILY GRAPHIC, years after the formation of ECOWAS, one would have expected that the movement of people and goods in the sub-region should no longer be a burden.
Needless to say, the reality is that apart from the hassle that one goes through at the borders at the hands of Customs and Immigration officials, there are also a countless number of checkpoints, manned by Customs and Immigration officials and policemen, all under the guise of maximising revenue and safeguarding the security of the state.
In the face of all this, our leaders never miss an opportunity to drum home the essence of regional integration and economic union.
Here in Ghana, a trip to our border posts will reveal our lack of appreciation of global trends, even in the face of security threats posed by terrorism.
Travellers and traders are subjected to unnecessary checks and delays, thereby creating the conducive and fertile ground for some unscrupulous officials to extort money from them.
But there seems to be a respite in the offing, with the decision of the Ghana Police Service to prune down the checkpoints on all the major roads of the country to allow for the free flow of persons and goods.
For us at the DAILY GRAPHIC, this piece of news is refreshing, since travel time and the period for doing business will reduce considerably to ensure increased productivity.
However, we are a bit hesitant in rejoicing over the news because this is not the first time we are hearing about the intention of the police to remove checkpoints from our main roads. In the past, similar assurances had been given but they all turned out to be a nine days’ wonder, for the checkpoints came back in greater numbers than before.
The DAILY GRAPHIC prays that this time the police will stick to their word and implement the directives to the letter, so that the rationale for the exercise, “to satisfy the demands of the motor traffic laws of the country and reduce the number of barriers within the country to the barest minimum to facilitate free flow of goods and persons”, will be met.
While encouraging the Police Service to carry out its intentions, we would like to caution it not to shirk its responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country, since the removal of the road barriers could provide a field day for armed robbers to harass road users.
Meanwhile, to make the exercise achieve its objectives, we urge the Ghana Police Service to dialogue with its counterparts in the sub-region to carry out similar exercises in the other countries.
For, without the police elsewhere doing the same, what we do here could be likened to a drop of water in the ocean — nothing much could come out of it.

PROTECTING CONSUMERS’ RIGHTS

WITH the advent of globalisation and its concomitant implication for free trade across national borders, no one country can claim immunity from the dysfunctional effects that shoddy, fake and inferior quality goods can have on its economy and people.
However, those countries which have the interest of their citizens at heart and which are aware of the ramifications of shoddy goods and unsatisfactory services on consumers have put in place policies to protect consumers.
The institution of policies to protect consumers serves as a bulwark against their exploitation by producers of goods and providers of services. Indeed, so well established are the institutions which deal with consumer matters in those countries that absolutely no institution, whether it is a service provider or a multi-national company, can take consumers for a ride.
But what do we see here in Ghana? The absence of clear-cut guidelines and policies to protect consumers has made producers of goods and providers of services have a field day to do whatever they want and still go scot-free.
That situation, the DAILY GRAPHIC says, is unacceptable and the earlier something is done to rectify that anomaly, the better.
In our peculiar situation, the lack of consumer protection policies has opened the floodgates for all manner of goods to flood our markets and shops. In some cases there are no instructions on some of these goods, while some of the goods which have the instructions have them in indecipherable languages.
Some of these goods do not display any expiry dates, while others, especially the consumables, do not indicate the constituent ingredients, thereby posing a danger to consumers who may be allergic to certain ingredients.
Even more risky are electrical gadgets which are of inferior quality and made with inferior materials. The danger they pose is not only to health but life and other property, since they could easily catch fire.
As for our service providers, especially telecom services and the utilities such as water and electricity, the least said about them, the better. It is as if, having determined that consumers do not have any guidelines to follow to exact excellent services from service providers, they (the service providers) can short-change them.
Now the norm, as the DAILY GRAPHIC has found, is for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), for instance, to cut power supply to a place without having the decency to inform residents about it beforehand, so that they could at least protect their appliances. That practice, surely, smacks of arrogance and callousness. As for the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the people are used to the taps running dry for weeks and months without the authorities explaining the challenges to the consumers.
In our hospitality institutions and facilities, the story is the same, with front desk staff creating the impression that the customer is being done a favour for patronising that facility.
In the light of the foregoing, it has become obvious that the need for a comprehensive policy to protect the welfare of consumers in the country is long overdue.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, welcomes the formulation of such a policy by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and President’s Special Initiatives, as announced by the Deputy Minister, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.
We are equally glad that in the formulation of the policy, all stakeholders in the sector are being involved, so that, in the final analysis, the policy would pave the way for the enactment of a framework leading to the establishment of a Consumer Protection Authority and a Small Claims Court to facilitate consumer redress.
We are already behind time so we must work at this in such a manner as will hasten matters to bring relief to consumers, for they have been taken for granted for far too long!

GOOD REASON TRIUMPHS

SINCE the Europeans introduced formal education in our country, this system of education has undergone various reforms in terms of course content and structure, duration of courses and the like.
The implementation of such reforms has always had some side effects. A prominent side effect of the educational reform implemented from the 2007/08 academic year has been the protestations from various quarters against striking out of Religious and Moral Education from the basic school curriculum.
We have not forgotten the outcry of various religious organisations such as the Catholic Bishops Conference and the particular statement by the Bishops that “sidelining religion and morality from education is tantamount to condemning the human person to a lack of means to develop himself or herself fully to be a human being in the society”.
We cannot but agree with the Bishops that it takes morality to avoid doing the wrong thing and that the benefits of doing the right thing are enormous as society seeks to develop and progress.
Happily, the government has listened to reason and decided that Religious and Moral Education as a subject should be reintroduced to the basic school curriculum from September 2008.
Is Religious and Moral Education as a subject the magic wand for conjuring good behaviour in our children? Is there not anything stronger than the absence of Religious and Moral Education from our school curriculum which is undermining the moral upbringing of our children, and for that matter the moral fibre of our society?
Do we, as a nation, have any “moral blueprint” that we expect our people to abide by?
These are questions which should preoccupy all reasonable Ghanaians till we see a change for the better in the behaviour of our people.
Times were when the whole community was a check on the behaviour of every single member.
Some of us have not forgotten the strict discipline that other adult members of our communities subjeted us to, besides our own parents, and our pleadings to other adults not to inform our parents and guardians of our unruly behaviour, all in order to avoid another punishment for the same misbehaviour.
There were times when the school-community relationship was such that “bad children” were sent to the school to be disciplined.
Today, the idea of human rights has been misconstrued and misinterpreted to the extent that some people think they have every right on earth to do whatever they deem right because somebody tells them other people’s rights end where their noses begin. They forget that rights go with responsibilities
It is time the corporate entity Ghana ensured that its institutions of state charged with the responsibility of ensuring good behaviour among the people worked to the letter.
The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) should, for instance, educate the people on their rights but it should stress the need for morality.
The home and the community should augment the efforts of the school at training the child in good morals.
To this end, members of the community should avoid assaulting teachers who discipline undisciplined children.
The Ghana Education Service guidelines for disciplining or correcting schoolchildren should be made known to even members of the school community so that they can help to develop them.
Ghana cannot afford the laissez-faire and permissive society we have today.
There is the need to combine tradition with modernity when it comes to morality in our country in order to avoid the ever-growing indiscipline in our society, which the mere teaching of Religious and Moral Education cannot resolve.

EC MUST NOT FAIL

PRESIDENT J. A. Kufuor took the salute at yesterday’s national parade of the security agencies and schoolchildren at the Independence Square to mark Ghana’s 51st independence anniversary, with a call on the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct the December general election so credibly that the outcome would be acceptable to all contesting parties and the electorate.
Stressing his resolve to hand over a united and peaceful country to his successor, the President said, “I call on the commission to referee the electoral proceedings, including registration, voting, counting and declaration of results, with impartiality, neutrality and transparent honesty to make the contesting parties and the electorate feel proud of the outcome, win or lose.”
This, coming from the Father of the Nation, must bring the best out of the EC and that alone should assure everybody that the commission cannot afford to dither.
We at the DAILY GRAPHIC are happy that all the stakeholders in Election 2008 are raising concerns and expressing their opinion on how to get the EC to do a credible job in December.
The President’s call on the EC, coming on the heels of the cacophony of noises that greeted the alleged bloated voters register in the Ashanti Region and the assurance by the EC to get to the bottom of the matter, should reassure all that the integrity of the 2008 elections will be protected.
But we will be the first to admit that the rhetoric alone will not be enough. All the interested parties must walk the talk, for it is said that example is better than precept.
The EC has already given notice of replacing lost voter ID cards of registered voters and registering those who have turned 18. The register itself will be put on display some time before the elections for everybody to scrutinise it and raise concerns over it.
As the DAILY GRAPHIC has said time and again, the performance of the EC since 1992 makes it a very credible institution. No doubt it is the reference point for elections on the continent and even beyond.
But the commission alone cannot protect the integrity of its elections. That is why we believe that the electorate should make it its bounden duty to police the system and processes to guarantee credible elections and their outcome.
In that vein, we counsel all to support the EC in its endeavours, instead of crying wolf at the least sign of an infraction. After all, the only way to economic progress in any society is through unity, stability and peaceful co-existence based on respect for rules and regulations.
What should be obvious to all by now is that if those who want power in order to better the lives of the people incite the same people to violence, leading to anarchy, loss of lives and property, there will be no united country to rule if they get that power.
Many examples of politicians inciting people to violence, as a result of disputed election results, abound in Africa and particularly the sub-region. That is why those who raise concerns over election matters should be circumspect, lest they create havoc in the country.
We all know how crucial the December elections are, meaning that tension will heighten in the run up to the polls, since power to rule the country is at stake. But we believe that this should not lead to the spillage of even a drop of blood.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, like all well-meaning Ghanaians, is hopeful that the EC will rise to the occasion and that Ghana will make history once again by holding a successful fifth election in succession to position the country well for it to make the giant strides towards attaining a middle-income status in the next decade.