Resolving the tertiary admission blues
With the release of the results, the stage is now set for the various universities and other tertiary institutions to offer admission to these future leaders to pursue their career goals.
For some time now students and parents have been sitting on tenterhooks, wondering what the fate of the candidates would be after the release of the WASSCE results, particularly so because of the two batches of three-and four-year SHS students who graduated this year.
Already, the government has initiated moves to increase the intake of students in all our tertiary institutions, including the universities.
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We know that some public universities have already indicated their inability to double their intake this year, although they have agreed to increase admission to some extent to ease the pressure on parents and students.
Currently, the country can boast of 63 private universities that can also admit some of the SHS graduates, but, to be frank, facilities are limited in those private universities.
But the public universities have the means to increase admission, judging from the facilities that are available in these institutions.
Nonetheless, plans to increase intake into the public universities will come with other challenges, including the non-availability of residential accommodation and lecture rooms.
But faculty is not easy to come by. It takes time to train lecturers but, unfortunately, many young graduates are not interested in career paths in the universities.
The situation has changed somehow with the improvement in the conditions of service of university teachers, but still many young people do not find teaching attractive.
University education is key to national development and the pride of parents and young people. But that does not mean we should sacrifice quality for quantity.
The emphasis should be on qualitative education that will help develop skills and build the capacity of young people to seek solutions to the country's problems.
Therefore, the situation where hundreds of young people are crammed into a small hall because of the lack of space and faculty is not the best and could account for the deteriorating standards in our universities.
Be that as it may, the country is at the crossroads trying hard to offer admission to thousands of our young men and women looking for tertiary education.
The Daily Graphic calls on all stakeholders — the government, parents, students, teachers, the business community and, indeed, the entire society — to work together to find a solution to the admission blues that confront us this academic year.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
