Mr Yohane Amarh Ashitey, the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), has presented awards to outstanding students in the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). Master Arhen Nana, a past pupil of the Angels Specialist School, received the overall best BECE candidate in the Tema Metropolis, while Saint Paul's Methodist School received an award for being the best performing public school. The deserving students received the award during the Tema Metropolitan parade to commemorate Ghana's 67th Independence Anniversary celebration. Mr Ashitey, reading a speech on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the occasion, said Ghana's status as a democratic beacon in the sub-region was very important. He said citizens needed to engage in initiatives such as 'see something, say something,' to furnish security agencies with vital information and help safeguard the nation's cherished values. Quoting Nelson Mandela, he reiterated that 'Peace is the greatest weapon that any person can have,'em phasising the necessity to fortify Ghana's democratic achievements to promote peace and national development while building upon the legacies of past generations. Expressing concern over graduate unemployment, he said the government had proactively put in measures to tackle it, adding that education played a pivotal role in societal advancement, therefore the concentration on training and skill development. He revealed that the Bis-Box Project, a collaborative effort between the Ghana Enterprise Agency and the Mastercard Foundation, offered comprehensive entrepreneurship training, youth skills development, mentorship, and coaching for the youth, with the aim of empowering the next cadre of business leaders. The MCE said the programme was opened to applicants aged 15 to 35 years, with a special focus on individuals with disabilities and women-led enterprises. He urged interested parties to utilise the online application process or visit the assembly for registration, encouraging all eligible candidates to seize this opportunity for their personal and national development. Source: Ghana News Agency Higher Education, Training and Innovation Minister, Itah Kandjii-Murangi has said the development of professional and technical human resources, research, science, technology and innovation infrastructure is the cornerstone of the transformation of the Namibian economy. Kandjii-Murangi made the remarks during a high-level tertiary education funding budget review dinner held in the capital on Thursday. She said while almost half of the world's population is made up of young people it is also evident in Namibia, where the youth constitute 60 per cent of the population, adding that it is for this reason that special attention has to be paid to engaging and imparting the requisite skills to the youth. 'Young people are the future leaders, in a globalised and interconnected world, modern development theories tell us that innovative human capital is our competitive leverage, thus they are valuable assets and trustees of our posterity. They are, like everybody else, custodians of sustainable development, a role f or which they should and must be prepared,' she said. The minister noted that in the last few years, access to higher education and the diversity of programme offerings at universities have expanded significantly, citing that due to the increase in student numbers, it is imperative to increase the provision of state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities. However, one of the strategies that institutions of higher learning can adopt to cater for large numbers of students from ordinary and advanced subsidy school level is to consider introducing bridging programmes, she suggested. Kandjii-Murangi said her ministry is cognisant of the fact that Namibia has gone through a challenging period characterised by droughts, economic difficulties and the COVID-19 pandemic. This has impacted Namibians' ability to enrol their children at higher education institutions and in turn put pressure on the Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) in terms of demand for financial support. In the year 2022, the numbe r of students receiving financial assistance from NSFAF stood at nearly 15 000 at a cost of N.dollars 1.6 billion, while in 2023 that number grew to approximately 22 000 at a cost of N.dollars 2.1 billion. The current budget allocation to NSFAF is N.dollars 2.3 billion which represents an increase of N.dollars 200 million from the 2022/2023 budget, she concluded. The review was held under the theme 'Funding modalities in the Age of AI, Emerging Sectors, 4IR and 5IR'. Source: The Namibia Press Agency