Government remains responsible for free basic, secondary education – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has said his government “will continue to intervene and remain responsible for the provision of free, quality basic and secondary education for all”.

Speaking at a grand durbar to commemorate the 10th-anniversary of the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “Education should be a right for all of Ghana’s youth. Education is the equaliser for opportunities”.

“I want every child to be in school not only for what they learn in the books but also the life experiences.”

Later in a Facebook post, the President said: “On Friday, 15th July 2022, I was at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), in Ho, to attend the 10th-anniversary of the establishment of the University”.

“UHAS is pursuing aggressively the realisation of its agenda of becoming our nation’s pre-eminent health learning and teaching institution, dedicated to research and community service.

“The evidence is in the great strides it has chalked in health research, in being ranked amongst the top three (3) Universities in Ghana, and, also, being named number one in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2022 in the SDG-3 category in Ghana”, the President said.

“I also inspected ongoing work on $60 million Phase Two Expansion Project of the University, whose sod I cut in September last year.

“As a demonstration of our commitment to this project, Government has made available GH¢6.2 million of counterpart funding for the preliminary works, which covers extension of electricity, municipal water supply, construction of storm and waste drains, and all ancillary services required for the project implementation”.

“Eight months on, I am happy to note that the Phase II Project, which will accommodate the Central Administration of the University and the School of Nursing and Midwifery, is progressing steadily according to schedule.”

“Some thirty-six per cent (36.3%) of work has been completed, and, at this rate, I am convinced that work will be completed on time”.

UHAS was established by an Act of Parliament (Act 828 in December 2011) and envisioned to become a pre-eminent research and practically oriented health educational institution dedicated to community service.

The main campus, including the central administration, is in Ho.

A second campus is located in Hohoe.

The University started operations in September 2012 with 154 students.

The student population currently stands at 3,752 (3,727 undergraduates and 25 postgraduates) while the staff strength is 611.

Staff to student ratio in UHAS is 17:1, which, according to the university, is currently the best among all state universities in Ghana.

UHAS is the first public university to be established in the Volta Region of Ghana and is so far the only state university wholly dedicated to the training of healthcare professionals in Ghana.

The University currently runs eighteen (18) undergraduate programmes in six (6) schools and one (1) institute, namely; the School of Allied Health Sciences, School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Public Health, School of Pharmacy and Institute of Health Research.

Others yet to be established are the School of Sports and Exercise Medicine, School of Dentistry, Institute of Medical Education and Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine.