GIJ Degree Course Under Threat

OUT OF 500 applicants seeking for degree courses at the Ghana Institute of Journalism this academic year, only 40 students were offered admission, while 106 out of the 1,200 candidates for the diploma course gained admission.

The rather low intake of candidates is due to lack of lecture halls and over-stretched facilities at the institute.

During the second matriculation ceremony of the institute held recently, the director, Mr. David Newton, described the situation as "very alarming and a difficult one."

He warned that, if the problem of inadequate lecture halls is not solved fast, the institute may have to discontinue the degree course next academic year.

He appealed to the government as well as the GIJ alumni to help finance a ?2.2 billion, 12-unit classroom block project the institute has embarked on, as a way of solving its problems.

The director general of the Ghana New Agency (GNA), Mr. Robert John Kafui, who chaired the ceremony also expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the institute, regretting particularly that GIJ does not have an assembly hall.

"As we sit here, leaves keep falling on our heads; GIJ deserves better than this, GIJ deserves a great hall like other institutions," he said.

He urged the students to develop good language and writing skills in order to raise standards in the journalism profession.

A deputy government spokesman, Nana Ohene Ntow, made a personal commitment of supplying the institute with computers.