Mr Cezar Kale, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, has appealed to the Catholic Church to consider opening a campus of the Catholic University in the region to offer courses in Technical and Vocational skills.
The Deputy Regional Minister said through the establishment of the University the youth would be equipped with skills that would make them self-employed.
According to him, this would lead to a reduction in youth unemployment in the region and the country as a whole.
Making the appeal at the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Wa Diocesan Catholic Education Unit, at Wa, at the weekend, he commended the Catholic Church through its Education Unit for
partnering the state to lay a stronger foundation in the area of education.
"Your exploits in formal education have indeed brought hope to the poor people living in deprived areas," he emphasized.
Mr. Kale, who expressed worry about the polarized nature of society and declining moral values, urged the Catholic Education Unit to fashion out ways of inculcating faith in school children as a way of life and not as a mere identity.
"It is my hope that this would help reverse some of the negative developments in society for a better Ghana," he said.
Mr. Cosmos Yeleduor, Regional Manager of the Wa Catholic Education Unit, noted that since the coming into being of the Unit in 1960 in the region, it had established 79 Kindergartens, 135 Primary Schools, 96 Junior High Schools (JHS), six Senior High Schools (SHS), seven Technical/Vocational Institutions and one special
School.
He said there are 327 pre-tertiary institutions with a total of 84,648 pupils and students while the number of teachers operating
in the schools is 2,630.
The Regional Manager added that Catholic schools are among the best schools in the region.
Sir Dave Anane Druyeh, General Manager of the Catholic Schools, said the goal of Catholic Education in Ghana was to create opportunities for young people to achieve their potential through comprehensive religious, culturally-oriented and learned-centred education.
The vision of the Unit is to provide education based on gospel values, the General Manager said, explaining that all schools and
institutions established by the Unit had over the years been guided by the vision, philosophy and goals of Catholic Education.
Mr. Druyeh advised that as they celebrate 50 years of existence of the Unit they should also use the occasion to think through the situation of catholic education delivery to improve on performance.
He proposed that the criteria for selection of award winners during Speech and Prize Giving Ceremonies should include the well behaved, the courteous, those with excellent record of humanitarian activities, especially those projecting the name of the school.