The Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso constituency in Ashanti region, Dr. Stephen Amoah, has emphasised on the need for the addition of entrepreneurship as a subject matter in school curriculum at both lower and upper levels of secondary education. He made the call in Parliament on Wednesday where he charged stakeholders in the education sector to be intentional about entrepreneurship which is vital for job creation and employment in Ghana. Relying on data by academia and the national statistics office, Dr. Amoah bemoaned the current unemployment situation as a danger to society that has contributed to ‘antisocial’ behaviours such as robbery, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, insecurity and sexually transmitted diseases.

“There are a number of compelling reasons for the above proposition to be accorded
the needed national and executive attention. Entrepreneurship has played a remarkable role and indeed become an integral part of the global economy. It has impacted the economy by creating jobs, stimulating economic stability and reducing poverty in the world.”, he said

According to the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research of the University of Ghana, only 10% of Ghanaian graduates secure employment within a year of graduation. Further, only about 10,000 of 109,874 individuals that graduate from university each year get employed while an estimated 100,000 remain unemployed. Therefore, entrepreneurship presents an attractive option to absorb the excess talent churned out by the tertiary institutions for the nation to benefit from their solutions.

Entrepreneurship, as defined by Stephen Amoah, is the ability to set up a new business venture and develop one’s own business with the intention of making profit instead of relying on ones already created by another individual or corporate body. By introducing it as a subject matter in junior high and senior high school curricula, learners would be afforded the opportunity to hone their talent in technical areas while developing knowledge on leadership, accounting and how to grow small businesses into behemoths.

“Mr. Speaker, entrepreneurship is the key to dealing comprehensively with the graduate unemployment in Ghana. A lot of our talent, out of frustration engage in a lot of illicit socioeconomic ventures and even leave the shores of Ghana in search of green pastures. These factors have affected Ghana’s skill labor and are highly dysfunctional to the performance of our republic. The unemployment situation has a degree of integration when it comes to insecurity and an unstable economy,”

“Mr. Speaker, the most needed solution being the import of this statement is the advocacy for the inclusion of ‘ENTREPRENEURSHIP’ as a core course in the Junior High School academic curriculum, and as elective in the Senior High School academic curriculum. I am accordingly proposing that the relevant stakeholder bodies particularly education ministry take the needed steps to expedite action on the inclusion of entrepreneurship in our JHS and SHS academic curricula. This will increase the entrepreneurship appetite of our youth to start and develop their own businesses.”