The former Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has revealed that a pre-engineering programme aimed at students who did not study science in secondary school but were keen to pursue engineering was established during the New Patriotic Party administration.

Speaking on the JoyNews AM show, Dr Adutwum discussed the challenge of achieving the well-known 60:40 ratio where 60% of students are expected to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses, and 40% are in the humanities.

He stated that the challenge was that, there weren’t enough students with science background to reach the 60% in STEM fields unless they brought innovation to the process.

"What we did, which was profound, was to establish a pre-engineering programme, this initiatives was for students who did not study science but are determined to become engineers," Dr Adutwum explained.

The programme was introduced in collaboration with two universities; the University of Mines and Technology (UMAT) and Pentecost University. Dr Adutwum said,

"We incentivised these students through a ground-breaking programme," he said

"For example, at UMAT this year, we were informed of the high demand for pre-engineering. They accepted 300 students from a large pool of applicants, including those from general arts, visual arts, home economics, and other non-science backgrounds.

"These students are now pursuing pre-engineering at the university.

"It was my idea not to block these students from entering the engineering field. They may not have received proper guidance in secondary school, which led some of them to choose general arts or other non-science subjects." he lamented, adding that "if they have the desire to become engineers, we should not stop them. These are the individuals who will become the innovators of tomorrow."

The pre-engineering programme involves a rigorous one-year course, covering subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, and an introduction to engineering, he added.

He explained that at the end of the year, if students pass the examinations set by the university, they are given the opportunity to enrol in the first year of any engineering programme.

"The whole idea is that, for us to transform our nation, we must look at what other nations have done and replicate their approach so that we can reach the same destination," he said.