Private firms urged to support infrastructure developments

Kumasi, Feb 27, GNA - An appeal has been made to companies and private organisations to begin to channel part of their profits into supporting infrastructure development in tertiary institutions in the country. Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Managing Director of Lakayana Company, a revenue generation and collection firm, said even though private organisations were already making tremendous contributions to upliftment of tertiary education, they need to step up such efforts by giving priority attention to infrastructure development. He made the appeal in an interview with the GNA in Kumasi at the weekend. He explained that the lack of residential accommodation and inadequate lecture facilities were the major problems hindering tertiary institutions now and therefore needed to be addressed collectively. Mr Prempeh also entreated government to accord equal assistance to students in private tertiary institutions like their counterparts in the public ones. He said since they were all Ghanaians and wards of the taxpayer, it is prudent, for instance, to make them also enjoy the SSNIT students' loans scheme without any discrimination.

Mr Prempeh expressed concern about the large number of private basic schools as against the JSS, SSS and private tertiary institutions and called on private proprietors to take a second look at their investment in the educational sector. He said, time had come for the private proprietors to also shift their focus from only the establishment of basic schools to investing in JSS, SSS and establishment of tertiary institutions. Such an initiative, Mr Prempeh observed, would help augment the few public SSS and tertiary institutions and thereby pave way for a larger student in-take for higher education at the tertiary levels.