The President of the College for Community and Organisational Development (CCOD) in Sunyani, Dr Gabriel Gbiel Benarkuu, has advised Ghanaians to desist from playing politics with the country's education since it is the key to the socio-economic development of every nation.

"If for political expediency wrong decisions are taken on education, all sectors of the economy suffer," he maintained.

He entreated politicians to demonstrate trust and belief in the Ghanaian educational system and stop playing football with it.

He questioned why the entire country should waste time and resources debating whether free Senior High School (SHS) is beneficial instead of finding strategies to adequately finance science-based education to reduce poverty, promote industrial transformation, and contribute to the country's socio-economic development.

“We were also witnesses in 2007 following Professor Josephus Anamuah-Mensah’s report, when the SHS duration was changed from three years to four years and again reverted to three years in 2011, resulting in two cohorts graduating in 2013.

Was it not a painful experience for parents and students that the authorities should unite to prevent?" he queried.

Dr Benarkuu also sought to find out the reason for blaming the universities and polytechnic universities for running business and arts-related programmes when most Junior High Schools (JHS) and Senior High Schools SHSs are not science-based institutions.

He declared, “If we do not pay attention to Science and technology education at the basic and secondary levels, we should forget about the rhetoric of becoming a technologically driven economy.”

Dr Benarkuu further pointed out that there should be a focus on technical and vocational education with adequate resources to improve the practical content of technical education.

"If we don't do this, the country's resources, including the oil finds, will be run by foreign technicians who he said came into the country as experts and repatriated their money to their countries of origin,” he added.

He suggested that something that can help polytechnic university graduates start their businesses in a country beset with the challenge of high graduate unemployment is Small Business Credit Assistance.

He also indicated that since the formal sector is not expanding enough to employ young graduates, the government should have set up a Small Business Administration (SBA) agency to help young entrepreneurs from tertiary institutions start their enterprises.

According to Dr Benarkuu, this can build an economy that does not depend on external forces to grow and further realise Ghana's mantra beyond aid.