Page 140 - Afrika Must Unite

BUILDING SOCIALISM IN GHANA !25
In accord with our needs, the government has introduced free
and compulsory prim ary and middle school education, with the
view to the total literacy of the country by the time we celebrate
the tenth anniversary of our Republic. We have, unfortunately,
a shortage of teachers. To meet this shortage, emergency training
centres have been established where volunteers can obtain the
appropriate certificates; while the problem of inadequate
accommodation is being coped with by the adoption of a shift
system in many schools.
The study of science has been made compulsory for all school
curricula, and prim ary technical schools are to be established.
These schools will be m anned by graduates and will operate
alongside the general prim ary schools. They will give concurrent
training to boys and girls, so that by the time the pupil leaves
prim ary school, the technical training gained will give sufficient
proficiency for semi-skilled work. The bright scholar can
continue his technical training together with his general studies
at secondary school to prepare him to complete a short technical
course at one of our technological institutes.
The University of Ghana at Legon and the Kwame Nkrum ah
University of Technology at Kumasi and m any other colleges
and institutes in various parts of the country cater for higher
education and research. The Ghana Academy of Sciences carries
out research in the sciences, history, languages, sociology,
medicine, and so on. The work of these institutions is planned
and co-ordinated by the National Council for Higher Education.
The annual meeting and report of the G hana Academy of
Sciences are matters of national importance, for they record
progress and outline plans for the future. We attach considerable
importance and pride to the title o f‘Academician5, which is to be
recognized as one of the highest national awards.
There are m any problems for the solution of which we must
look to our scientific institutions. For instance, with more and
more cocoa coming to glut the market, the Cocoa Research
Institute will turn its attention to setting up, without any loss of
time, a departm ent for dealing with cocoa derivatives and their
uses. We have, too, m any species of timber that are not being
utilized. This is a complete waste and the Tim ber Utilization
Research U nit is being turned into an institute, adequately