Databank held the 2nd edition of the Databank Leadership Series on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at the Alisa Hotels (Ridge Arena).
The event, which took the form of a panel discussion focused primarily on education, under the theme “Financing Quality Education that is Globally Relevant”.
The panelists for the event were Dr. Esi Ansah (MD, Axis Human Capital), Mr. Michael Inkoom (Director in charge of Secondary Education, G.E.S), Anis Haffar (Founder, GATE Institute), Dr. Naomi Adjepong (Alpha Beta School) and Kojo Addae-Mensah (Group CEO, Databank), with Amma Lartey (Africa Regional Director, Reach for Change) moderating the event.
Delivering the keynote address, Kojo Addae-Mensah stated that “The foundation for every country is the education of its youth. Databank understands the importance of quality education and the impact it can have on the future of Ghanaian children as they transition from basic to secondary school, from secondary to tertiary and then tertiary into the work force”.
He urged parents and guardians to prepare financially for the cost of educating their children and then also admonished schools and past student unions to set up endowment funds for their schools.
Mr. Addae- Mensah also urged policy makers to work on improving the disparity between the Ghanaian and international curriculums. Anis Haffar stressed on the need to employ skilled teachers to teach the curriculum in ways that will attract the attention of students and lead them to perform better and compete with their counterparts from international schools.
Dr. Esi Ansah also highlighted the important role all and sundry have to play in ensuring children have access to quality education.
She stated that quality education is the right of every Ghanaian child and that it is up to all of us to assess the current state of public school education in Ghana in order to develop and implement a scheme that will churn out quality and world class students.
On his part, the Director in charge of Secondary Education at Ghana Education Service explained that the expansion of educational facilities and the establishment of new ones are key to promoting quality education.
He also used the platform to admonish qualified teachers not to abandon the public schools for the international ones. Dr. Naomi Adjepong used the platform to encourage parents to plan financially towards giving their children quality education. She also asked for the creation of more scholarships and endowment funds to support schools and students.
The Databank Leadership Series was attended by head teachers from public and private schools, old student associations, corporate executives, educationists as well as a cross section of the media.
