Mills: Gov't committed to the provision of better social service for all

President John Evans Atta Mills on Saturday said government is committed to providing better social services including educational facilities to create decent employment opportunities and good standard of living for all. He said the government acknowledged that one of the means of attaining these goals was to continue to support tertiary institutions to provide quality education to meet the manpower requirements of the nation. President Mills said these in an address read for him by the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tetteh Enyo, at the 14th congregation of the University of Education, where 5,439 graduands were awarded with certificates, diplomas and degrees. The President said the functions of universities and other tertiary institution, which included teaching, learning, research, extension services, distance education, were critical for national development. "My administration will therefore ensure that adequate material and financial resources are made available for the maintenance and expansion of our tertiary institutions so that they would continue to contribute to accelerated nation growth and development". He said about 90 percent of the funding for education came from public budgetary allocation. President Mill said the government was currently reviewing the Education Strategic Plan of 2003 to 2015 with the view to further improve the delivery of education in Ghana. The government pledged its unflinching commitment to the provision of education. It will be guided by the principles of achieving and attaining quality, relevance, efficient management of resources, equity and accountability in delivering this essential service. President Mills said critical to the attainment of the educational objectives of the government were issues relating to reforms at all levels of education. "These include the basic and secondary levels of education, teachers education, technical and vocational training, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its application at all levels of the education system", he said. President Mills said government has noted with interest the curricula reviews and new programme that have been introduced by the UEW which included Post-Diploma in Basic Education, which is a sandwich programme. "The special Masters in Education programmes which targets tutors of the College of Education and the post graduate Diploma in Education by distance education were timely and would help train and provide the professional skills needed to strengthen and improve education delivery planning and management in the schools and colleges", the President said. The Vice-Chancellor of the UEW, Professor Akwasi Asabre Ameyaw, said the University through its Office of International Relations has established an international Off-Campus Programme in Nigeria. According to him, the project which is a novel way of moving UEW's programmes across borders had a big potential among others to generate revenue for the University.