The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has cut the sod for the construction of a five-storey lecture theatre in Accra to host regular and part-time students to pursue science and technology courses, as well as distance education.
The initiative, which was mooted about 23 years ago, has come to satisfy the needs of students yearning for tertiary education in the country.
The Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Professor Williams Otoo Ellis, was assisted to perform the sod-cutting ceremony by the Gbese Mantse for work to begin on the lecture theatre at Kwabenya, a suburb of Accra.
Prof Ellis explained that the Accra City Campus of the KNUST would not limit its programmes to science and technology alone but that with time it would expand to other related courses.
He urged eligible students residing in the Ga West and Ga East municipalities where the campus was situated to take advantage of the campus to further their education.
He said the construction of the campus would create job avenues for unemployed youth of the area and urged them to take advantage of the initiative.
Nii Kwaw Sackey and Nii Armah Tackie, the Municipal Chief executives for Ga West and Ga East, respectively, who spoke at the ceremony, said the two assemblies had plans to extend the road network and electricity to the new site for the early completion of the project as their contribution to the establishment of the campus in their area.
They noted that the opening of the KNUST Accra Campus was an eye opener for the people and the youth, since it would bring development to the people in the area and its environs.
The municipal chief executives urged parents to invest in the education of their children and not see education as expensive, since ignorance was more expensive than education.
They also appealed to landowners to release land to the university, so that the eight hectares acquired could be increased to enable it to build more lecture theatres.
The Gbese Mantse, Nii Okaija III, said the opening of the KNUST campus in Accra had ushered in a new era for the youth in Accra, especially those in the two Ga municipalities who have had to contend with low standard of education.
