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The Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, last Friday donated a 52-seater bus to the University of Cape Coast for a project that seeks to create support for the development of education in communities in its catchment area.
The bus donated would be used to support a project dubbed “University of Cape Coast neighbourhood academic initiative” which involves a move to improve the performance of schools in the university’s operations area.
Dr Adutwum made the donation at the launch of the University of Cape Coast at 60th celebration at Cape Coast.
He said there was the need for institutions to develop a good relationship with various communities in their catchment area so they could benefit from the operations of the institution.
Coaching and mentoring
The Education Minister cited for instance that, schools in such areas could be assisted in improving teaching and learning through mentoring, coaching and designing programmes with the management of the schools.
He again appealed to professionals to consider visiting schools to inspire students to study hard which would go a long way to motivate the students to study hard.
“It is sad to note that some universities are not able to admit students from schools in its catchment areas because they are not able to make the needed grades required for admission into such prestigious universities, a situation which was not good at all”. He stated.
Dr Adutwum then charged all universities in the country to put in place measures to ensure that schools in their operational areas are granted various support schemes to help their students make the right grades so they could benefit from the academic gains of the institutions.
Commendation
The Education Minister eulogized the board, management and staff of the University for the various academic and other gains made so far and urged them to keep up the good work for the good of the nation and the rest of the world.
“As an academic institution that trains a high calibre of teachers, I am challenging you to lead the crusade for the training of teachers towards the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses in the country”. Dr Adutwum said.
This, according to the Education Minister would help boost the training of the rightful manpower needs for industries which played a very critical role in the transformation of the nation’s economy.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. J. Nyarko Boampong, said the university started in 1962 as a University College to train highly qualified teachers and other educational manpower needs for the education sector.
He said it had since transitioned into a vibrant institution of higher learning making giant strides locally and on the international platform.
Prof. said currently, the image of the university was very high and urged all stakeholders in the institution to continue working very hard to ensure that it retained and also improve its academic and other records.
The 60th-anniversary celebration launch cake was cut by all dignitaries to usher in activities to mark the year-long activities for the anniversary.
