The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) is soon to begin specialised programmes in road safety and transportation in a move that is to help fight the rampant road crashes and their attendant fatalities and injuries ultimately in the country.
As part of that effort, the University has entered into a service level agreement with DriveRide Network, a private entity with a reputation for providing skills training in Business, Applied Science and Arts, and Engineering Education in Ghana, to begin the development of a Driving Science and Skills Management (DSSM) Programme.
The programme would be offered as a short course, intermediate, Diploma, and Advanced Diploma levels, and shall be opened to all drivers but with initial priority on institutional and commercial drivers and private transport operators.
The conviction of the University is that drivers could acquire the necessary skills like complex cognitive, motor, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills and driving ethics crucial to bring sanity to the country’s roads via a structured programme like what AAMUSTED is soon to introduce.
Road traffic accidents remain major public health and development challenges in Ghana, with a colossal 734 dying and 4,025 sustaining varying degrees of injuries as a result, during the first quarter of 2022, according to a Ghana News Agency (GNA) report. For the period, the country recorded 3,932 crashes involving 6,587 vehicles and 712 pedestrian knockdowns.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Frederick Kwaku Sarfo, observed at the brief Agreement Signing Ceremony on June 16, 2022, that the worsening incidents of accidents on the country’s roads called for a united Ghana to support the government in efforts to curtail the canker.
He assured the public that AAMUSTED has the capacity and capability to make a meaningful contribution to the fight against road accidents in this country and that the University shall not leave any stone unturned in its efforts to achieve that.
Prof. Sarfo encouraged drivers to take advantage of the programme once rolled out to improve their knowledge and skills regarding driving and the use of the road, stressing that the country cannot continue to underestimate the importance of driving and yet cry for safety on roads.
Therefore, he challenged DriveRide Network to be fully committed to the collaboration with AAMUSTED so they could help enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of drivers to save lives and reduce the high cost that results from accidents.
Earlier, the Executive Director of DriveRide Network, Mr. Patrick Andoh, expressed happiness that his outfit could enter into such a collaboration with AAMUSTED to work toward helping to address one of Ghana’s major problems. He said it would do citizens a lot of good if they would move beyond complaining about problems in the country and seek solutions.
In his view, a collaboration with AAMUSTED is one such move that could greatly help the country, adding that establishing a Centre for Road Safety and Transportation in AAMUSTED could result from the collaboration eventually. He assured the University that DriveRide Network would do its utmost to guarantee a flourishing partnership with AAMUSTED.
The Dean of the Faculty of Technical Education (FTE), Prof. Humphrey Danso, giving the background to the service level agreement signing, indicated that both institutions had been working together for about a year, fashioning out important details about the collaboration.
He said the institutions would work together to develop the curriculum for the DSSM Programme, seek approval from the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), and look for funding to implement the plans, among other things. The DSSM Programme would be by the Competency-Based Training Mode.
