The Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah has mounted a spirited defence for government’s move to rename tertiary institutions after notable national figures.
Speaking on Accra based TV3, Professor Yankah said naming public institutions after national figures is an honourable thing to do.
“We have reached a point where I think we should honour our heroes in a much different way than we have been doing in the past and that is identifying universities at the pinnacle of academic law and naming universities after individuals and notables in society who have achieved significant feat within the country and that is when the naming of universities after individuals comes in. We have not done it well enough.”
Four public universities in the country will be renamed after the newly drafted Public University Bill is adopted and passed by Parliament without any amendments.
The selected institutions include the University of Development Studies, the University of Professional Studies Accra, the University of Health and Allied Sciences, as well as the University of the Energy and Natural Resources.
Rawlings to Gov’t: ‘Thank you but don’t rename UDS after me’
Already, Former President, Jerry John Rawlings has asked the Ministry of Education not to rename the University of Development Studies (UDS) in his honour.
According to him, he does not want the institution renamed after him because he does not want any monument named for him.
“When the proposal for the naming of the UDS was first brought to the former President’s attention by the Education Minister in 2017, he thanked the President and the government for the honour, but politely declined the offer because he had a long-standing principle not to have national monuments and facilities named after him.”
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By: Marian Ansah & Michael Ogbodu| citinewsroom.com| Ghana
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