Dora Francisca Edu-Buandoh

“I reiterated the need for the students to aim at becoming economically independent, especially women, before venturing into life-long commitments such as marriage.”

“In the current dispensation that the University of Cape Coast is championing the entrepreneurship drive, students need to add value to themselves by gaining both hard and soft skills necessary to ensure their holistic moulding into responsible citizens.”

“Universities give universal training for you to fit into different roles except for specific professions like medicine. You are being trained to fit into different positions and roles that may present themselves to you after school.”

“Universities do not train students to fit into specific jobs but produce well-rounded critical thinkers who can assume different positions.”

“I told myself if I was going to become a teacher, I would push till I reached the top. So, on my journey, I became the head of the Department of English, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the Provost of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies, and the first female Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University.”

“Becoming a teacher was not my primary option for a profession growing up. However, I decided to work towards reaching the apex of the profession when I found herself at the Komenda College of Education.”

“I encourage the students to exude traits of commitment, diligence, respect, perseverance, curiosity, and responsibility to reach their desired peaks in life.”

“I attended public schools yet I dared to challenge myself to do my utmost without considering where I was coming from and the private schools my mates attended.”

“It is important for them to be confident and not feel intimidated because of your backgrounds.”

“The Human Library is a library of people where readers can borrow human beings serving as open books and have conversations with them tapping into their experiences.”

“Students should be confident irrespective of their humble beginnings especially those who attended public schools.”

“I call for respect for all through the use of language.”

“Language had been used to emphasise the "us" versus "them" which painted others negatively and “ourselves positively”, a situation which was impacting negatively on national cohesion and development.”

“Perhaps that is why we have an ethno-linguistic crisis looming.”

“Studies indicated that some Ghanaian students did not speak even one Ghanaian language, explaining that schooling had a way of making people speak English to ignore and look down on their language.”

“I also expressed worry that Ghanaians had negative perceptions about our language, it was obvious that as a country we were headed towards an ethno-linguistic identity crisis.”

“The professor of language said it had gone so bad that the Speaker himself had to use "unparliamentary" language to address unparliamentary comments.”

“The use of indecent language affected even Ghana’s Parliament, I cited a research by me and another which indicated that 73 unsavoury comments, including some offensive, abusive and insulting language were used in Parliament between 2005 and 2018.”

“Discourse was socially prescribed, and that it was important for all to understand the context and the people, and be decorous in the use of language.”

“I believe we engage in most discourses the way we do because either we do not know the norms of language use or we have lost it as a people.”