Eduwatch Calls For Scale Up In Tertiary Enrolment
The Executive Director of the education think tank Africa Education Watch (EDUWATCH), Kofi Asare, has called for measures to be put in place to increase tertiary enrolment in Ghana.
He is worried that despite free access to second-cycle education, the figure remains woefully low.
The government has set a goal to increase the country’s tertiary enrolment ratio to 40% by 2030.
In March 2021 while delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo decried the figure and assured measures were far advanced to reach the goal.
Among them, he outlined the introduction of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) schools; removing the guarantor system of student loans and Open Universities.
In 2022, the Ministry of Education came out with a figure which depicted a leap towards the target.
It said the ratio had increased from 18.84% to 20%.
In a social media post on Friday, Kofi Asare said the country’s game must be upped.
“In the 2020 WASSCE, the 1st Batch fSHS {Free Senior High School} candidates recorded an unprecedented 50% pass in all 4 Core Subjects. Of the 375k candidates, only 125k (33%) entered University in 2021 compared to 35% in 2020.”
He emphasized, “We must improve tertiary transition.”
