The Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana Professor Ernest Aryettey says sports and debate are important in the lives of students.
He revealed that the importance of the two necessitated the elevation of the sports department at the university to a full directorate, headed by Dr Bella Bello Bitugu, who helped to secure the hosting rights of the 8th Pan African Universities Debate championship.
In his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the championship on the campus of the university in Accra on Thursday, he said, “It is clear to us that there are very important life skills, values, knowledge and expertise that help the individual, in both his or her career and life in general, but which are not structured in the formal learning and teaching of our students.
“Some of them are the lessons that we learn in sports like resilience, time management, focus, concentration, networking, understanding, tolerance, learning to manage both victory and defeat in life etc. The other phenomenon is debate. Debate challenges the students to come up with critical analysis, think outside the box, be creative and be able to convince others of why this or that position is the best.
The Director of Sports, Dr Bitugu indicated that “debate is a particular form of training for our youth who sooner rather than later will be managing our systems. That is why we are imbibing in them these qualities that I will call software expertise towards innovation, creative solutions, dialogue, tolerance and understanding rather than conflict-prone processes and as we say in Ghana “jaw, jaw” instead of “war, war”.
Youth and Sports Minister Dr Mustapha Ahmed mentioned that “…our continent is one made up mainly of youth. In some countries a little bit below half, in some a little above half of the population is made up of the youth. Clearly, the majority of the people on the continent are the youth and they are the ones mainly affected by unemployment and other adversities.
“The ultimate objective is not just to win this competition, but rather to enable you take these thoughts home, table them before your colleagues and family members and ignite discussions to see how you can make your very little contribution in your very little world or community towards the progress of Africa.”
About 20 African countries are taking part in the competition currently underway on the campus of University of Ghana, Legon.
LEGON 2015, which is expected to end on December 17, is being hosted in partnership with African Heights Foundation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Ministry of Education and other sponsors.
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum