The Ghana Education Service (GES) in collaboration with the National Insurance Commission (NIC) have launched a programme to educate students of second cycle institutions on the basics of insurance.
Dubbed Basic insurance education in second cycle institutions and under the theme “Insurance awareness among Ghanaians: Setting the fundamentals right,” the programme is meant to create awareness among students about insurance and its benefits.
The Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Justice Ofori speaking at the launch of the programme in Accra yesterday, said the programme, which is an initiative of NIC, GES, the Ministry of Finance, Insurance Awareness Coordinators Group, was to educate students to help them appreciate the importance of insurance.
As part of the programme, he said the two organisations would provide education on the basics of insurance for students of senior high schools across the country.
Mr Ofori explained that the programme was to expose students to insurance at the tender stage to encourage them to buy insurance when they started working.
Mr Ofori observed that the programme was would also help the students to choose career paths in insurance, saying there were so many career paths under insurance.
He said the insurance industry could contribute hugely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product and growth if the current insurance penetration was increased.
To this end, Mr Ofori said the NIC and other stakeholders would work hard to increase the current two per cent insurance penetration to 10 per cent by 2021.
The Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amamkwah in a speech read on his behalf by his Deputy, Dr Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, described the programme as very laudable, saying it had come at a very opportune time when the national body responsible for curriculum development, NACCA was reviewing the curricula of basic and senior high schools.
He entreated the NIC to develop educational materials on insurance and present to NACCA for them to incorporate in the educational curricula.
Prof. Opoku-Amankwah stressed that the low insurance penetration was as a result of low insurance education in the country, and urged the insurance companies to initiative strategies to deepen insurance penetration, indicating that they could develop micro insurance products to attract more people to buy insurance.
He disclosed that the GES and the Ministry of Education would push for a policy which would enjoin the government to insure all senior high schools in the country.
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta in a speech read on his behalf by Sampson Akligo, the Director of the Financial Sector Division of the MoF, lauded the NIC, GES and the other stakeholders for launching the programme to inculcate positive insurance culture and behaviour in students.
He said the programme was in line with the National Financial Inclusion Strategy developed by the government which was also focused on insurance education to educate the public about the importance of insurance.
Mr Ofori-Atta encouraged all the stakeholders of the programme to support it to succeed.
The Minister encouraged investors and players in the informal sector to buy insurance to protect them from the inherent risk associated with their businesses.
He advised the students not to “repeat the mistakes of the past” by not buying insurance when they started working.
By Kingsley Asare
