Mr. Wilfred Ofori Asare, Chief Organiser of Tamale Workers College has called for the strengthening of the country’s distance education programme. He said the increasing recognition of the value of secondary education had resulted in rapid expansion in enrolment figures and the consequence churning out of a large number of school leavers yearly. However, he, said, the lack of facilities at the tertiary level had presented many qualified applicants from gaining admission to the universities. Mr Asare was delivering a paper on the University of Ghana Distance Education Programme at an “Open Day” marking the 60th anniversary celebration of the Tamale Workers College in Tamale at the weekend. He said the distance education programme favoured certain category of people whose commitment made it difficult for them to attend regular school as full time students. Beside, he said distance education helped to overcome the barrier post in relation to access to higher education. Mr Asare explained that people who lived far from the nearest tertiary institutions might not only find it difficult to be enrolled in these institutions but also struggle to get accommodation in such new places. He said such people could take advantage of the programme to gain access to higher education, adding; “Distance education is thus seen as a powerful tool that can be used by geographically disadvantaged people to further their education wherever they may live in Ghana.” Mr. Asare said even though the University of Ghana distance education programme was instituted in 1995 it was not until November 2007 that it was formally launched with an initial intake of 906 students into “Level 100” during the 2007/2008 academic year. He said the second batch of students; however increase to 1,394, adding that currently (2008/2009 academic year) the total students population stood at 2,300. Mr. Asare said the University of Ghana distance education programme was run by the Institute of Adult Education, Legon and its regional centres popularly known as “Workers College”. Currently, he said, only five centres in Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi/Takoradi, Tamale and Koforidua were involved in the programme, however, there were plans to establish centres at Tsito in the Volta Region, Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region and Wa in the Upper West Region. Source: GNA