The Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has hinted at plans to make the Bosomtwe District the hub of education in the Ashanti and the rest of the country.
To this, he lauded efforts being made by various stakeholders and institutions in the district such as chiefs who have released the needed land for school projects and the district assembly which was also supported in the construction of schools among others.
Dr Adutwum gave the hint over the weekend when he cut the sod for the commencement of work for the construction of a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Academy project at Sawuah in the Bosomtwe District of Ashanti region.
Project-specific
The Sawuah project is one out of the nine such facilities being put up nationwide this year after it was captured in the 2022 budget statement.
It is being constructed on a 27-acre land between Sawuah and Tetrefu and it has facilities such as classrooms, dormitories for boys and girls, various laboratories, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres, Staff accommodation and others.
The 2022 budget captured the construction of 35 STEM academies across the country as well as five STEM Universities to boost the training of more STEM graduates to help increase the Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (GTER) which currently stands at 18.8 per cent to 40 per cent by 2030.
Personal support
Dr Adutwum recounted how through his own effort and resources had sponsored 30 students to pursue various Engineering courses at the University of Mines and Technology at Tarkwa as part of the effort to support the development of Bosomtwe and the nation as a whole.
He added that 70 others will also be sponsored by him to go to various universities to pursue engineering this year to fulfil his desire to train 100 engineers from his constituency so they could enhance the development of the constituency and the rest of the country.
Commendation
The Education Minister eulogized President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for voting a huge chunk of his yearly budgets to develop the education sector which held the key to the total transformation of every country.
He was upbeat that if the state of development in the education sector continue for a couple of years, it would turn around the various sectors of the economy since there would be the training and provision of the right human capital to meet the needs of the 21st-century workforce for the country and beyond.
Dr Adutwum also commended the traditional leaders, civil society groups, opinion leaders, faith-based organizations and other residents of Bosomtwe who were all contributing in diverse ways to ensure that education received a boost in the district to facilitate its development.
He assured the people that with the current state of support to the leadership, there was no way the district would not develop, adding that “Bosomtwe will soon have the highest per capital Engineers in the country”.
Assurance by DCE
The District Chief Executive for Bosomtwe, Mr Joseph K. Assumin, assured the people of more investment by the assembly in the education sector to help empower the people, especially the youth to be ready for the job market.
He urged the people to make it a point to pay their taxes since that was the means through which development projects they desired were funded.
The Queen mother for Sawuah, Nana Akosua Abrafi, was full of praise to the government for the remembering the people of Sawuah in the distribution of the national cake.
She assured the government of the support of the traditional authorities towards the development of the area since it would open up the local economy of the area to the rest of the country.
Background
The Bosomtwe District is part of the Greater Kumasi enclave and with its strategic location attract lots of people daily to visit the Lake Bosomtwe resort which is one of the leading tourist attractions in the country.
The leadership of the district has for the past five years resolved to make the development of education its priority. This led to the organization of a forum in 2017 dubbed ‘Bosomtwe development forum’ which brought together various stakeholders to discuss ways to develop the area.
After a successful rollout in 2018, the district has since seen a massive transformation in infrastructure and the provision of resources towards education development across the district.
The feat chalked can be attributed to the political leadership of the area which can boost of hosting Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area and the Minister for Education, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister and a former MP for the area and Mr Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Alias Wontumi) the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Regional Chairman among other people.
What is more surprising is the desire by traditional authorities in the area readiness to release large acreage of land to the authorities for the construction of schools.
