BreakingBARRIERS
The Congregation
It will not be an exaggeration to say I get agitated when I read feature articles that occasionally flood the dailies deriding what the authors term ‘second rate’ graduates being churned out of our Universities. Some of the articles are so dull and inane the reader is left with the conclusion that these articles must surely have come from uncommitted pens whose owners ended their natural ability to create comic relief in the midst of the nation’s grim and austere economic realities. Their moot point is that, compared to yesteryear’s graduate, today’s graduate lacks the skill needed for meaningful contribution in the job arena and national development. However, just like past graduates, today’s graduates possess snippets of knowledge in a wide array of issues. This is a result of constantly reading wide and internet research. With this, the graduate is ready to take on any job that he/she encounters and the corporate world has a responsibility to give such graduates basic training so they can fit well into the job. Also, it is important to note that in developed countries, the corporate bodies make it a point to invest in the universities and the products of the universities. This they do by organizing symposia, workshops, seminars, and also by creating avenues for students to acquaint themselves with the basics of the corporate world through internships. This enables students to be useful in their chosen fields of endeavor. Some universities also sponsor students through the university in order to draft them when they complete. Schools like Yale and Harvard have adopted this. Looking at the Ghanaian setting, companies here are more concerned with finding scapegoats to blame for their plight. Like the Biblical bad servant, they waste a lot of time trying to reap where they have not sown. Not interested in investing in today’s students, they expect these same students to produce expertise as if through some magic. They rather sponsor nitwits who get on the media to criticize the half-baked students universities are producing. These arguments show the obvious: today’s corporate bodies in Ghana are not serious! The most painful part of this criticism is that unlike graduates of the past, today’s graduate is a cursed entity. Aside daunting accommodation problems, they also have to deal with congestion in lecture theatres and poorly ventilated libraries stocked with outdated reading material that could pass for museum exhibits. In spite of these, they come out victors while I’m sure faced with such a predicament even Einstein might be reduced to a blinking idiot. The school atmosphere now is nothing like it was then, when education was free and students were pampered to the extent that they could protest about being overfed with chicken because all their three daily meals contained poultry products. Back then they had researchable libraries and up-to-date reading material. They also had the perfect student-teacher ratio and there are even rumors of free weekly massages and bathes. The corporate world was more responsive and responsible then and life was comfortable. Now, both the corporate world and government seem indifferent towards the plight of today’s graduate. Government is bent on making grand promises they know they cannot achieve while the corporate world slumber and snore out contempt toward today’s graduate. Until they get serious and exhibit genuine intentions by looking for efficient means of training the graduate in the job arena, they should spare us the pain of criticism. As a stakeholder, the government too should set its priorities right and see human resource development as the sure way to go. The Universities must also not relent in their bid to produce world class graduates. I have no doubt that these measures can release the country from the dregs of unemployment! JIMMY AIDOO
AFTER SCHOOL
8? ECHO MAG? YEAR 2012
Recalling Prof. Ernest Aryeetey’s declaration that today’s graduate must wait till after 5 years to get a meaningful job barely a year into his term as Vice Chancellor brings suppressed smiles to the lips of adept labor economists in Ghana. At the time, teasing did not change his opinion; rather, he joined in the laughter, adding that the very existence of the Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana was proof of his declaration. At each congregation, with the exit of the few thousand graduates from the school into the job market, the Prof. admitted he could swear he detected a conspirational wink in the eye of the corporate world. His belief is that; making the University of Ghana a first class university is the solution for this menace that has come to plague us. Why not? He has his priorities right and his heart is in the right place. A world-class university is the balm our aching bones need.
YEAR 2012? ECHO MAG?9