Blog # 5, Lacretia Benton, Education in Africa needs radical overhauling - Spio

 Education in Africa needs radical overhauling - Spio

The Minister for Trade and Industry of Ghana, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has told a summit conference on Higher Education in Africa that the content of the continent’s educational system needs radical overhauling if African University graduates are to more readily find employment.
The former Education Minister was of the view that until African countries got help from their own industrialists to change the curriculum of their schools, especially in the secondary and tertiary sector, Africa will continue to produce graduates who will find a hard time finding jobs or starting their own businesses. Dr. Spio was speaking at the three-day African Higher Education Summit, attended by some 800 ministers, ambassadors, university vice chancellors and professors, educational planners, as well as officials of major multilateral and bilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations.
He disclosed that having been Minister of Education and now working as Minister of Trade and Industry, he had become keenly aware of the total disconnect between what most African economies need and the knowledge content of graduates most African schools and colleges were producing. The Minister stated that a three-way consultation needs to be held urgently between governments, industry and academia to introduce a whole new set of relevant knowledge into the education curriculum, to ensure that graduates could become more employable or could begin their own businesses. He said non-governmental organizations like the African Business Center for Developing Education (ABCDE) could be among agencies that could initiate and manage a range of programs to bring professionals and industrialists into classroom to help change the limited range of knowledge content most students are exposed to. Dr. Spio-Garbrah urged that through internships, attachments, career counseling and guidance, industrial days, excursions, mentorships and other interventions, it was possible for entities such as ABCDE to bring the world of business and industry closer to classrooms.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=351166

Blog post #4, 11:30 pm, 3/6/2015, Education, Lacretia Benton

The first ladies of the United States and Japan are planning to discuss boosting girls' education around the world. Mrs. Obama will visit Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, from March 18-20 and end the trip with a March 21-22 stop in Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia, the White House said Tuesday.Cambodia is an interesting choice for the first lady. President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cambodia in late 2012 after his re-election. White House officials insisted at the time that Obama was only going because Cambodia was the host for two annual regional summits he has made a point of attending. Obama appeared visibly unhappy during the brief visit. The president and first lady, the parents of two teenage girls, both say their own success would not have been possible without education, and everywhere they travel they encourage young people to finish school. In the U.S., Mrs. Obama also leads a separate initiative encouraging young people to continue their education after high school. The administration is putting under the “Let Girls Learn” umbrella a range of programs currently operating largely across Africa and the Middle East that focus on education, empowerment and leadership, health and nutrition, gender-based violence, and early and forced marriage. In Japan, Mrs. Obama will highlight the importance the two countries place on international girls’ education. President Obama traveled to the close U.S. ally on a state visit last April, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to make a reciprocal visit soon. Cambodia is one of 11 countries included in the first year of the “Let Girls Learn” program to be run by the Peace Corps.

http://www.salon.com/2015/03/03/us_first_lady_plans_mid_march_visit_to_japan_cambodia/

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