MP for Kwesiminstim, Dr Prince Hamid Armah says the challenges of the existing education system are the lack of credit and qualification framework of the sector as a country.
Speaking at the Pan-African Student Conference, Ghana 2022, held at Pentecost University College, Accra, the Deputy Chairperson of Parliament’s Education Committee revealed that a National Qualifications Framework will engender transparency and accountability regarding student qualifications.
“The importance of having a national qualifications framework is to ensure transparency and accountability in the qualifications people have and how they can move from one sector of the academic ladder to another.
“So, for example, if you are a TVET or a technical professional person who wants to move on to general education, it must be apparently easy for you to do so, whether you studied in Nigeria or in another African country. It must be very easy for you to navigate from one qualification to another,” he said.
According to him, this has led to a stagnation of students in terms of academic choices.
“If you are studying a first degree, first year at the University of Pentecost and you want to travel to Nigeria, the question will be whether you can continue from second year from the course you were doing in Ghana …it’s not possible… in fact in Ghana in the past people who had an HND and wanted to graduate had to start at level 100.
“So what the qualification framework does is recognize that learning has taken place, which is then quantified and converted into a credit or number that can follow you wherever you want to go,” noted the Dr Arma.
Furthermore, he mentioned that the national qualification framework in the quest will need a “whole national credit and qualification authority which will be responsible for credit transfer”.
“Well-structured countries that have qualifications systems also have qualification authorities and so one of the key policy changes we will need is to decouple qualification assessment, certificate assessment and create a national authority of credit and qualification who will be responsible for transferring credits because it is a huge undertaking in itself, which cannot be left to one unit of an agency.”
Dr Armah therefore recommended that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the Ghana Chapter, be converted into the National Credit Examination Authority of Ghana responsible for pre-level credits and qualifications. -tertiary.
Speaking on the mobility challenges faced by international students in the country, he said the continent’s policy space is not conducive to promoting student mobility.
“Students in Africa are struggling in terms of mobility, not only on immigration issues, but because of the political imperative of credit transfer, the political imperative of assessment of qualifications. Thus, each country works in silos.
“The impact of student mobility is such that it can even have an impact on our economic development. In terms of human resources, when people study abroad and decide to stay there, the knowledge they acquire is kept there for the benefit of this country.
“But if we are able to evolve, not only the Ghana qualification framework but also a continental qualification framework, then it becomes easier for people to criss-cross Africa flexibly in their academic pursuits,” said- he added.
The MP for Kwesiminstim therefore urged policymakers across Africa to conceptualize these mobility issues as an African problem and create solutions that will help eradicate the problem.
The conference dubbed ‘Bridging the Educational Engagement Gap‘: Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue had world dignitaries such as the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Algeria, Atmane Boudjemia, the Ambassador of Suriname, Fidelia Graand-Galdon, and the Director of Community Education and Youth Development, Dr. Akosua Abdallah, gracing the event.
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