Kwadwo Baah - Wiredu Minister of Education, Youth and Sports In May 2003, the Honourable Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu became Minister of Ghana’s newly created Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. In addition, he is currently Chairman of the ECOWAS Ministers of Education Conference. Mr. Baah-Wiredu served in the Parliamentary Committees of Public Accounts, of Finance, and of Communications between 1997 and 2001, and was Minister for Local Government and Rural Development and a Board Member of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum from 2001 to 2003. He has co-authored a collaborative study of Government Finance in relation to infrastructure and service provision in Ghana. Honourable Baah-Wiredu has just secured the rights for Ghana to stage the CAN 2008 football competition.

Providing quality education for our youth

The Government of Ghana is committed to the cause of providing relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels, to enable them acquire skills that will assist them to develop their potential, to be productive, to facilitate poverty reduction and to promote socio-economic growth and national development.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MOEYS) in fulfillment of its mission provides facilities to ensure that all citizens, irrespective of age, gender, tribe and religion are functionally literate and self-reliant through the provision of basic education for all, opportunities for open education for all, education and training for skills development emphasizing science, technology and creativity as well as higher education for the development of middle and top-level manpower requirements. In line with this objective the Government is committed to the six Dakar goals of Education for All (EFA) and has developed a National Plan of Action to attain the Six Dakar goals by 2015.

An important strategy in the development process is that of equipping young people with the relevant skills, knowledge and cultural values needed to face challenges in life through the provision of effective teaching and learning, pre-service and in-service training, as well as expansion of infrastructure facilities, equity in the provision of educational services and facilities for all, with particular focus on girls and the disadvantaged youth. Issues on critical thinking, peace - building and democracy have been factored into a recently revised national curriculum.

The Ministry is also emphasizing the promotion and inculcation of values on sanitation in schools, institutions and the personal lives of the youth. Attention is being focused on the identification and promotion of educational programmes to assist in the prevention and engagement of HIV/AIDS. Courses in HIV/AIDS prevention, counseling, care, management and support are provided for teachers in pre-service and in-service training.

In our bid to provide quality education for the youth, the Government of Ghana underscores the need to continue with an enabling educational environment, regarding quality, equity and relevance, in order to respond to national and global demands.

It is our expectation that the healthy co-operation among member countries of UNESCO will continue to afford the sharing of resources towards equipping the youth with coping skills for the future, to achieve sustainable development in our respective countries.