The Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, is advocating for the introduction of procurement and strategic sourcing as an elective subject in the secondary education curriculum.

This he argues will give a firm foundation to students who might want to take on the profession in the latter stages of their education.

He made the call when the leadership of the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply (GIPS) paid a courtesy call on him to submit the policy document and draft copy of the Procurement Practicing Bill for onward submission to the Cabinet.

The team was led by the President of the Institute, Mr. Simon Annan. In attendance was also Professor Douglas Boateng one of world’s renowned experts on strategic sourcing and the only distinguished fellow of the institute.

Mr Annan emphasized that the passage of the Procurement Practicing Bill is a game changer because it will provide standards, accountable procurement and regulations for practitioners to responsibly undertake their functions to support Act 663 as amended ethically.

According to the minister, the tenet of the procurement profession requires discipline, ethical standards, code of conduct and practical applications, which should be introduced to aspiring professionals at the early stages of their education.

 “The fundamental aim of this proposal is to champion the integration of procurement as an elective discipline within Ghana's second-cycle educational framework,” the minister added.

He, therefore, tasked the leadership of GIPS to work with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) and related parties to develop the right course content and methodologies for implementation.

President of (GIPS), Mr. Simon Annan, who welcomed the minister’s recommendation, indicated that graduates who aspire to study procurement and supply chain at the university level after senior high school will be well-equipped with the fundamental understanding of the practical application of procurement .

He emphasized that the study of procurement in second-cycle institutions will expose the citizenry to an inextricable link between procurement, industrialization, and sustainable job creation for long-term socio-economic development.

 "It is a good decision because it supports the students to understand the real application of procurement or the linkage between procurement and sustainable development in the country,” he said.

 “Most people are in the procurement and supply profession by accident, but when it is studied as an elective course in the senior high schools, there will be a foundation to begin from,” the GIPS president added.

Commenting on the clarion call from the education minister, Prof Douglas Boateng the former non executive chairman of Public Procurement Authority (PPA) said, “ Without local and regional wide professionalisation of procurement, Ghana and the rest of the continent’s long term industrialisation and socioeconomic development will continue to remain a pipe dream. It is my hope that the call by the miniister will overwhelmingly be endorsed by the government, CSOs and all the political parties as it is in the long term interest of the nation," theprofessor concluded.