The General Secretary of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatics Council, Reverend Emmanuel Teiman Barrigah, has called on the government to support private tertiary institutions by paying the tuition fees for their students as was being done for public universities.
He said graduates in private universities, bore every cost of their education, yet they were mandated to do National Service just like their counterparts, who studied in the public universities, to contribute to the development and growth of the country’s economy.
Rev Barrigah made the call at the 20th matriculation and 17th congregation ceremony of the Methodist University College Ghana (MUCG) at Dansoman in Accra.
At the function, a total of 1,001 students were graduated from various levels of the three faculties of the university.
They comprised 185 Masters, 710 Bachelors, 104 Diplomas and two certificates.
Rev Barrigah said one thing created difficulty for students to apply for admission to private universities was the high tuition and other fees the private universities charge, which seemed to be too expensive for students from low-income homes.
He said the condition placed a huge barrier on the way of students who wanted to enter into the private tertiary institutions.
The General Secretary said the high tuition of the private universities was because they have to meet overhead costs in their day-to-day operations, while government paid the tuition fees of students entering the state institutions.
Touching on the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), Rev Barrigah urged Christians to strongly resist and stand firmly against all efforts by any government to legalise homosexuality in the country, saying; “The uproar that greeted the introduction of the CSE is indicative of what should be expected if any attempt is made by forces whether internally or externally to impose the policy on us.”
The President of MUCG, Professor Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, said the world was confronted with challenges of poverty, diseases and ignorance and advised the fresh students to read beyond what they would be taught and research into relevant issues that would help solve problems.
He said the university was faced with low student numbers, which had had a toll on its finances and attributed it to over 100 private universities who struggled for admissions with the public universities.
“The financial stress on the private universities is also compounded by the huge sums of monies they had to pay to their mentor institutions and the regulatory bodies,” Prof Asabere-Ameyaw pointed out.
He said there was the need to introduce cutting-edge programmes, which would attract more students into the private universities, adding; “it is for this reason that our Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Education has mounted programmes in Entrepreneurship and Education.”
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana and Chairman of the Methodist University College Council, Most Rev Dr Paul Boafo, said the Methodist Church Ghana as a major stakeholder in the provision of quality education supported the government’s Free Senior High School Policy.
He said the Council was ready to partner the government to address whatever challenges that would come as a result of the many students that would be seeking admission into tertiary institutions.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana said as a mentoring institution, Prof Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, it would continue to provide the needed support to the MUCG to deliver quality education.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said the institution was ready to mentor any programme of the MUCG and encouraged it to introduce programmes that would make students ready for the job market.
“We would soon consider having a partnership with MUCG regarding admissions,” he added.
