The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has indicated that the government is poised to create an enabling environment to ensure that the youth thrive.
“We want to make sure that the youth have a better opportunity than we had, so that they can begin to innovate and change the fortunes of this country. We want to create opportunities for all these young men and women, bright individuals, and great youth, and give them the opportunity to blossom. They will change the course of history of this nation, be a shining example of what is possible in the world, especially in Africa, and show the way that Africa can do it and Africa will do it,” he added.
Dr Adutwum was speaking at the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Promotion Roadshow in Accra on Thursday.
He said that it was for this reason that the government had, among other things, initiated STEM education to instigate critical thinking and innovation among the youth and better position them for the future.
“We as a government have created the opportunity for all young people who will not do science in high school for one reason or another to go to selected universities and do a pre-engineering course and do intensive mathematics, physics, and chemistry coursework for a year. When the universities certify them, they can then move on and do the engineering course. That is how we boost our engineering numbers,” he added.
Dr Adutwum underscored that Vietnam was producing about 100,000 engineers a year out of a population of about 90 million, but Ghana, with a population of over 30 million, was “just doing 6,500 and a good year 7,000. And that is not the Ghana we want to create.”a