Bolgatanga Polytechnic Governing Council appeals for special attention

Sumbrungu (UE), June 27, GNA - The Bolgatanga Polytechnic urgently needs an auditorium and a modern laboratory to enhance teaching ad learning, the institution's Governing Council appealed on Saturday.

It specifically asked the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GET-Fund) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) to help the school to acquire those facilities.

The Chairman of the Polytechnic Council, Mr. Donald Adabre, made the appeal during the school's second congregation held on campus at Sumbrungu, near Bolgatanga.

Whilst commending government for supporting the school with infrastructure, the Council Chairman said the Polytechnic being one of the youngest in the country, needed special attention from government to enable it to stand the test of time.

He indicated that the Polytechnic had full and competent staff but stressed that one of the major problems confronting it was the lack of a modern auditorium and modern laboratory complex which made teaching and learning difficult.

He said few students applied for the Science and Engineering courses and blamed this on poor background of science students in the second cycle institutions in the Polytechnic's catchments in the Region.

Mr. Adabre expressed worry about the poor linkages between Polytechnics and industries especially when it came to designing and implementing curriculum, thereby making it very difficult for many polytechnic students to meet the needs of industries on the job market.

He said the situation where polytechnic graduates were made to further their education in the traditional universities defeated the purpose of the Polytechnic education which had 93an entirely different focus and orientation."

The Acting Rector of the Polytechnic, Mr. John Bosco Azigwe, indicated that in the 2010/2011 academic year, the Polytechnic introduced an innovative HND in Procurement, Logistics and Management programme, which was the first of its kind in all polytechnics in Ghana.

"Our objective is to address the needs of procurement and logistics professionals whose relevance has increased with the promulgation of the Public Procurement Act", he emphasized.

He indicated that the Statistics Department of the Polytechnic was collaborating with the APIDON Institute in Burkina Faso for the teaching of Statistics in French and English as part of its international collaboration package.

"The School has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Nanchang University in China for staff and students collaboration as well as the exchange of teachers and resources".

He indicated that through the community College initiative of the United States Embassy, five students had been selected to study in the United States of America, this year.

The second congregation awarded Higher National Diploma Certificates to 286 graduands, out of whom 79 pursued science and engineering programmes, representing 27 per cent.