Collaborate with businesses to produce better graduates - Dr Ankrah tells varsities
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GamAnk Group, Dr Samuel Ankrah, has called for a collaboration between educational institutions and industry to nurture graduates fit for the job market.
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According to him, a closer collaboration will ensure that graduates would have the positive mental attitude and values required to succeed in the world of work.
Speaking at a Silver Jubilee Homecoming/Speech and Prize-giving Day at the Opoku Ware Senior High School in Kumasi, Dr Ankrah said: “We must ensure the corporate world and the classroom join up more. Teachers must be made adjunct members of appropriate industry committees such as product development, events, strategy and planning and marketing. This will serve to expose the teachers themselves to current industry knowledge and practices.”
He said various school departments should use everyday work/ industry challenges to design case studies, assignments and group work as the over-reliance on foreign textbooks and materials was not helping students to be abreast of local industry challenges.
“Departments and teachers should undertake job shadow with relevant managers. Existing sabbatical programmes should be reviewed with “corporate” benefits in mind. Private sector institutional representation, especially in professional and semi-professional programmes such as engineering, medicine, accounting, and computer science should be set up to shape how Ghanaian students are being taught,” he added.
He also advised that managers and corporate executives should offer time as guest lecturers to shape learning and offer practical insights in schools, especially at the basic level.
Preparing students
Dr Ankrah, who spoke on the theme: “Beyond Brick and Mortar: Training Young Minds For Nation-building in the Twenty-First Century”, said it was important to teach students in this era more than just grammar and vocabulary. In addition to teaching culture, language awareness and classroom language, it is important to teach students to have a positive mental attitude and its values.
“Start teaching attitude in class. Once a basic level of numeracy and literacy has been attained, we should focus the next experience on teaching subjects such as analysis, discovery, problem-solving, communication and self-confidence. Make internships compulsory for all business entities in Ghana and they must file a return at the end of the year with the National Youth Authority,” he said.
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He also advised that students should be supported to volunteer for corporate events such as annual general meetings (AGMs), product launches, sales activations and trade fairs to gather relevant experience.
“Time spent must count towards their grade points. This will expose students to 21st century corporate practices and experiences far more than their books and teachers can teach them in the classroom,” he said.
The AN/AS300+ Group
The AN/AS300+ group started in the school, popularly known as Owass, in 1986. He said the group comprised shy-looking, skinny and innocent young men from the environs and beyond and currently has vibrant chapters in Kumasi, Accra, UK, USA, Canada and others.
“When the mantle fell on us to take over from the AM's to organise this event and offer a silver jubilee project gift to mother Owass, we did not hesitate but rather embraced it as a challenge. We quickly put in a strategy to mobilise ourselves from the length and breadth of the globe, from South Africa through to Ghana, Nigeria, England, Germany, Holland, US, Canada, UAE. The AN/AS 300+ group sees this year's silver jubilee a mantle which has fallen on us and we are determined to supersede the standards set by our immediate seniors and for that matter anything that any group of old students have done for this great school,” he said.
He added that the group chose as its anniversary gift to the school an ambitious project which was the refurbishment of the school's dining hall.
“The dining hall is the only place in the school where all the students congregate three times a day, seven days a week. It is, essentially, the school's fuel station, its heartbeat and nerve centre. The plan and focus of this year' s Silver Jubilee Group (The AN/ AS300+) was to turn the dining hall into a very beautiful edifice,” he said.