Ghana must fully embrace open & distance education – Alabi

A former Vice-chancellor of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Professor Joshua Alabi has justified the need for the country to embrace open and distance learning education at the tertiary level...
A former Vice-chancellor of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Professor Joshua Alabi has justified the need for the country to embrace open and distance learning education at the tertiary level.

Speaking at the 1st Convocation Ceremony of the Laweh Open University College in Nungua in the Greater Accra Region, Prof. Alabi noted that out of every 100 people who qualify for tertiary education in Ghana, only 16 of them are able to gain access. This, he said, is due to the lack of sufficient space to absorb other qualified candidates.

He, therefore, called on state institutions responsible for tertiary education to reorient Ghana's educational policy to fully include open education since it is a sustainable panacea to the problem of lack of access in tertiary institutions.

Prof. Alabi cited examples from Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa, where open and distance learning in tertiary education caters for more than two million students across the continent. He argued that the traditional (brick and mortar) university system cannot have space for everyone and that distance learning should be adopted moving forward.

The first convocation ceremony of the Laweh Open University College was held on the theme: "The Relevance of Open Distance Learning in Contemporary Ghana". Other dignitaries who were present at the ceremony and supported Prof. Alabi's call included Hon. Alex Tettey-Enyo (former Minister of Education); Prof. Elifas Bisanda (Vice-chancellor of Open University of Tanzania) and Prof. Olivia Kwapong (University of Ghana).

Source: Ghana/ClassFM 91.3FM