The government will not hesitate withdraw the accreditation of any private tertiary institution in the country found to be operating below the required standards, the vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has stated. He noted that this was in line with the government's determination not to compromise on the quality of education, which was the secret behind the development of any nation. "It is the people that make up the country. That is why we have to concentrate on eradicating illiteracy and providing opportunities for all our people to be educated," he said. The Vice-President was speaking at the second graduation and fourth matriculation ceremony of the Regent University College of Science and Technology held in Accra at the weekend. Mr Mahama, however, gave the assurance that the government would continue to collaborate with the private sector in the provision of quality education to eradicate illiteracy because it believed that public institutions of higher education alone could not provide the human resource needs of the country. He urged all private tertiary institutions in the country to inject into their graduates an entrepreneurial spirit to enable them to set up their own businesses to create employment for others instead of seeing themselves as only fit to be employees. In all, over 230 students graduated from the university whilst over 500 students were admitted to different programmes, including Bachelor Degree programmes in Accounting and Information Systems, Economics with Computing, Management with Computing, Computer Science and Computing with Education. The President and Chief Executive of the university, Professor E. Kingsley Kwabena Larbi, paid tribute to all teachers, stating that education was the greatest investment any country could make. He gave the assurance that the university would work in collaboration with the central government to eradicate illiteracy in situations where students at the lower and tertiary levels could not afford their tuition fees. Prof. Larbi expressed the belief that democracy could only be entrenched if the majority of the population was educated in order to make informed decisions as to who governs them.' He noted that a major challenge facing the country in the 21st Century was the widening gap between the poor and the rich, which resulted from the lack of adequate education in the rural areas. To help salvage the situation, Prof. Larbi announced that the Regent University had taken steps to support some children from indigent families in junior and senior high schools in the Eastern Region and intended to extend the support to cover students from other regions. Additionally, he said, the university had established the Regent-Ghana Jubilee Scholarship Fund to support needy students, as well as students with great leadership potential in areas consistent with the vision of the university. Degrees were conferred on graduates from the School of Informatics and Engineering, and the School of Arts and Social Sciences. In the awards categories, Master Francis Agbewali was adjudged the overall best student in academics and for best character, as well as the best student in the School of Arts and Social Sciences. The award for best student in the School of Informatics & Engineering went to Master Emmanuel Asimani whilst the Best Computer Science Student was awarded to Ms Diana Ademola. Source: Daily Graphic