Accra, Jan 6, GNA- Professor Miranda Greenstreet, Former Director of the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) on Saturday, said the nation had achieved much in the use of adult education as tool for national development.

She however observed that adult education institutions could not afford to be complacent if they were to remain relevant to national aspirations in the coming years.

"I believe that with visionary leadership on the part of the state and the actors in the field in Ghana, adult education can be used as a tool to enable the country to leapfrog and become more competitive on the global market and ensure better standards of living for Ghanaians", Prof Greenstreet said in a lecture at the 58th Annual New Year School at the University of Ghana, Legon.

She said the rapid rate of change challenges traditional notions of education and forces a critical re-evaluation of the role and nature of adult education.

"That is why I am suggesting a radical re-conceptualisation of adult education as lifelong learning as obtains elsewhere," Prof Greenstreet said in the lecture, which was on the theme: "Adult Education and National Development Since Independence". The school is a one-week annual extra-mural education programme, organized by the IAE.

The school, which is attracting about 600 participants from a cross section of Ghanaians from the academia, politics and governance, civil society groups; District Chief Executives and Members of Parliament, is examining the political, economic and social performance of Ghana after 50 years of independence, "Achievements, Challenges and the Future." The lecture, delivered with the aid of a chargeable light because of a power outage, defined adult education as "learning, which can immediately render benefit to adults in every field of endeavour" and made a strong case for continued access to education and training education through distance education.

Prof Greenstreet said distance based education reaches more students than conventional approaches.

She cited the University of Phoenix and said that University had by May 2006, 30 years after its inception had 126 different programmes on offer and had awarded 243,753 degrees.

It had also been reported that in China, 46,000 engineering and technology students per year graduate through distance education. "Ghana may not be able to mobilize such numbers but there is still a need to focus on taking the necessary steps that will enable us to take advantage of what others have done in relation to distance education and build upon it," Prof Greenstreet said, adding " closing the knowledge gap will not be easy for a country such as Ghana... but we do not have to re-invent the wheel."

She said Ghana also needed to focus on the implementation of a broader offering of distance learning programme to enable wider access to all Ghanaians who are capable of taking advantage of the opportunities offered.

Prof Greenstreet said the nation needed to focus on some key programme areas and activities to be able to achieve its own special market niche.

She said these includes programmes to support adult literacy, poverty eradication, entrepreneurship skills, environmental education, civil awareness, programmes for artisans and the professions, as well as programmes aimed at formalising the informal sector to harness their immense potential for national development, and grow leaders in all fields of human endeavour.

"Programmes would need to become more flexible to accommodate their needs... All programmes would require that providers of adult education must themselves update their skills in order to provide useful knowledge and skills for their clientele.

Prof Greenstreet urged practitioners of adult education to proactive in identifying new and radical modes of funding their work since they could no longer rely on traditional sources of funding. There will also be a need to accept the concept of co-investment, or cost-sharing- to ensure that the separate complementary and mutually supportive contributions of a wide range of provides and beneficiaries of life-long learning are recognised.

Prof Greenstreet emphasized constant upgrading of skills through lifelong learning approach to education and training, adding that this would require a multi faceted approach to policy development to address the interplay of lifelong learning for a more highly skilled workforce, stronger democracy and more personally rewarding life.