Ghana Extends University Education To Prisoners

The Ghana Prisons Service has revealed plans of introducing university education programs to qualified inmates who want to improve academically

Spokesperson of the Service, Vitalis Ayeh, said, three Ghanaian universities (Winneba, University of Ghana and University of Cape Coast) have been invited to extend their distance learning programs to inmates to upgrade their academic qualification.

According to Ghanaweb, Ayeh said: ”We are in talks with the Universities of Ghana, Cape Coast, and Winneba to extend their services to the Prison Service of Ghana so that these inmates who are qualified to enter university but because they are serving in the prison and cannot go to the university.

“They can benefit from the distance education system and they can come out better off.

“It hasn’t started yet, but I believe that where it has gotten to, very soon we‘ll have distance learning in our prisons,” he stated.

The prisons in Ghana have ongoing educational programmes including technical and vocational training, Information and Communication Technology as well as primary and secondary school education.

If an agreement is reached, it will be the first university education programme at the overcrowded prisons in Ghana, africanews reported.

According to a 2016 Ghana Prisons Service statistics, the country has a total inmate population of 13,685, filling 43 prisons built to hold 9,875 inmates.

Last year, the Chairman of the Ghana Prisons Service Council, Stephen Yenusom Wengam, called for both state and private support to transform the state of prisons in the country.