No Organised Education Policy In Ghana

Participants at the just ended Higher Education Policy Dialogue on Graduates Employability have confirmed that Ghana had no organised policy that outlines the nation�s vision of higher education. They noted that this policy gap was serious because there was no direction for how higher education should be organised. This came out at the British Council sponsored research dialogue on Higher Education, Employability and Inclusive Development in Accra. It brought together senior policy makers from the Ministry of Education, Trade and Industry, Vice-Chancellors and Pro Vice-Chancellors, Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), employment agencies and representatives of United Kingdom higher educational institutions. Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Minister of Education, said the demand for higher education in Ghana for a very long time far outstripped the facilities and this was why participation of the private sector was most welcomed. �Perhaps, it is time to deepen the dialogue of the economic, educational and social needs of the nation in order to fine tune these with the policies of higher education for more efficient harnessing of the potential human capacities of Ghana�s population,� she said. Dr Eric Daniel Ananga, Research Fellow at the National Centre for Research into Education at the University of Education, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, expressed regret that there was no competent framework by which the employability of higher education graduates could be measured. He said there was no national policy on education which would highlight the linkages in the various levels currently. Dr Ananga, who is also the resource person, said the nation had pieces of policy documents on specific programme initiatives and interventions at the various levels of education. Dr Vincent Adzahlie-Mensah, of the University of Education, said a single national policy document would provide a coordinated direction for education in Ghana and that looking at education in phases would not work but must be tackled holistically right from the beginning.