New Year School opens today

President Akufo-Addo is scheduled to open this year’s New Year School and Conference at the University of Ghana today January 14.

The 71st Annual New Year School, which will start from Tuesday, January 14 to Friday, 17, is on the theme: 'Ghana Beyond Aid: Prospects and Challenges’.

While the opening ceremony of the three-day event will be held at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana, the rest of the programme will continue on subsequent days at the Cedi Conference Centre of the same university.

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Aim

For the past 70 years, the School of Continuing and Distance Education of the University of Ghana has successfully organised the Annual New Year School and Conference.

Each year, the event serves as a forum where issues of national interest and concern are discussed on a broader theme, with sub-themes.

The annual event brings together ministers of state, captains of industry, academia, labour union leaders and participants from all walks of life to deliberate on issues of national interest and make recommendations that will shape policy.

At the end of every school and conference, a communiqué is issued which captures the recommendations of participants and discussants which inform policy decisions and directions in the country.

In 2017, the school discussed the economy and agriculture, whose recommendations significantly shaped what is now known as the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’.

Topics

Launching the 2020 edition on November 27, 2019, in Accra, a Minister of State at the Office of the President assigned to the Office of the Senior Minister, Mrs Catherine Afeku, described the theme as “special and timely”.

She challenged the conference participants to find answers to questions such as: “What should be done as a people to actualise the country’s potential of becoming a prosperous and self-reliant nation, taking into account the many resources that abound to us as a nation?”

The acting Dean of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, Professor Olivia A.T. F. Kwapong, said panellists would touch on topics on human capital development, effective pension plans towards Ghana Beyond Aid, among others.

The panellists will include ministers of state and experts from the private sector and international financial organisations such as the World Bank.

A side attraction of a special setting for the youth will be on Thursday, January 16, 2020, with a member of the Council of State, Mr Sam Okudzeto, as the special guest, with speakers including Mr Kimathi Kuenyehia, a legal practitioner, and Dr Lloyd Amoah.

Mr Okudzeto will lead a session on: ‘Ghana Beyond Aid: The youth perspective’, and ‘Ghana Beyond Aid: Preparing the youth for the future’.