Bono East Minister sets up committees for strategic direction

The Bono East Regional Minister, Mr Kwasi Adu-Gyan, has constituted a committee of eminent personalities to provide guidance, direction and advice for the establishment of a Bono East University to produce unique graduates who will be able to think outside the box to create their own jobs.

The Bono East University, he said, would focus on science, technology, engineering and entrepreneurship, and students would be trained in demanding fields and skills that would be used worldwide.

“We are working assiduously on it; we want to achieve this probably within the first year or two of my administration,” he stated.

Press conference

At a press conference at Techiman, Mr Adu-Gyan said the establishment of the university would go a long way to help the region produce unique graduates who would be able to think outside the box and come out with their own jobs.

He pledged to provide an enabling environment for the Ministry of Education to establish a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) high school and upgrade some existing high schools into model schools to enhance teaching and learning in order to improve academic performance in the region.

Committee

The committee is chaired by a former Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Professor Akwasi Asabere Ameyaw, who is the current President of Methodist University.

Members of the committee include a former VC of the Sunyani Technical University, Prof. Nsiah Gyabaa, who is also the Rector of the Anglican University College of Technology; and an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the College of Engineering, University of Texas, Prof. Thompson Sarkodie-Gyan, who is also the Founding Director of the university's Laboratory for Industrial Metrology and Automation and Laboratory for Human Motion Analysis and Neurorehabilitation.

Mr Adu-Gyan said other committees such as the Infrastructure Committee under the chairmanship of the Board Chairman of Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) and former Minister of Education, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, and Business Development and Industrialisation Committee led by the Dean of the School of Business, University of Ghana, Prof. Bawole, had also been set up.

Blueprint

Mr Adu-Gyan said he was putting together a think tank of professionals from diverse fields to draw a strategic plan for the region, explaining that the plan would as much as possible be the blueprint for the short to long-term development of the region.

He assured the chiefs and people of the region that all ongoing development projects would be continued and every effort would be made to ensure their timely completion.

“I intend to build a bipartisan consensus in drawing the strategic plan so that it will have continuity regardless of which government is in power,” Mr Adu-Gyan stated.

He emphasised the need to leverage the opportunities offered by education and training to increase the knowledge, skills and exploit the abilities of the people, especially the youth in the area.