Philip Mawuli Kumahia, an Education Associate at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has urged the Government of Ghana to be more mindful of the education needs of refugees.
“We also need to make conscious efforts to include refugees in our policies,” Mr. Kumahia said during the EdTech Monday segment on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, May 30, 2022.
This would present a solid foundation for stakeholders to work towards improving education prospects, he argued.
“That is the way we can come together and get stakeholders to come on board,” he added.
He noted as an example that refugees are sometimes treated like foreign students at the tertiary level, which drives up the cost of education.
“Sometimes it is like you see documents where you see persons with disabilities, they mention other genders, but refugees are missing. So it is as if refugees do not exist at all in the country,” Mr Kumahia said.
“If we make conscious efforts to include them in our policies, then we can begin from there, and we can get the stakeholders to come together and talk about it.”
About EdTech Monday
EdTech Mondays is an initiative of the Mastercard Foundation’s Regional Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT and part of the Foundation’s strategy to find solutions to Africa’s youth employment by closing the gap in access to quality education, and advancing the integration of technology in education policies and practices across Africa.
To realise this vision in Ghana, the Mastercard Foundation has partnered with MEST Africa, a pan-African technology institution, to bring EdTech Monday, on the last Monday of every month.
About MEST
MEST offers Africa-wide technology entrepreneur training, internal seed funding, and a network of hubs providing incubation for technology startups in Africa.
Founded in Ghana in 2008, MEST provides critical skills training, funding, and support in software development, business, and communications to Africa’s tech entrepreneurs. Hubs are located in Accra, Ghana; Lagos, Nigeria; Cape Town, South Africa; and Nairobi, Kenya.
To date, MEST has trained over 500 entrepreneurs from across the continent and invested in over 80 startups across industries from SaaS and consumer internet, to eCommerce, Digital Media, Agritech, Fintech and Healthcare IT.
MEST is primarily funded by the Meltwater Foundation, the non-profit arm of Meltwater, a global leader in media intelligence and Outside Insight.
