Polytechnics need more resources

Accra, Jan. 05, GNA- Dr. Yakubu Pelga, Principal of the Tamale Polytechnic, on Friday said insufficient funding, logistics and other resources were making competency based technical training in the nation's polytechnics ineffective.

He therefore called on the Government to adequately resource the nation's polytechnics, apart from the present inadequate internally generated funds, with funds from other sources to finance the programme, which he said was meant to address inadequacies of fresh students admitted into the Polytechnics.

Dr Pelga made the call in a forum dubbed; " Time with the Universities," at 59th Annual New Year School, underway at the University of Ghana, Legon.

The Principal said the competency programmes lacked enough workshop materials, funds to pay for the teachers who took on the extra load to bring students up to standard and many students could not pay for the extra tuition, especially those offering non-tertiary programmes in the polytechnics.

"The fees that are charged are not enough, so if Government can't pay, we have to find other sources of payment," Dr. Pelga said. According to Dr. Pelga, this year, the access programmes to bring students up to appreciable level before they took their main courses were in Mathematics, English Language and Science.

Mr. Kwame Dattey of the National Accreditation Board, Executive urged Ghanaians to lay any complaints on accreditation on any tertiary institutions before the National Accreditation Board for investigation. Mr. Paul Effah, Executive Secretary of the National Council on Tertiary Education said a lot of attention had been directed at repositioning technical education in the polytechnics, adding that the upgrading the teacher and nurses training institutions were t improve the development of the human resource in those sectors. He said it was important for the nation to train more people in Mathematics and the Sciences to improve its technical and scientific development.

Professor Florence Abena Dolphyne, former Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, who chaired the forum, said the nation really needed tertiary education for its human resource to accelerate its human resource development.

This year, the one-week School, an extra-mural programme organised annually by the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) of the University, on the theme; "Tertiary Education and National Development". The 59th Annual New Year School has so far advocated an open university and tertiary education systems, to make universal access to tertiary education for better human resource development. The School, which is being attended by a cross-section of Ghanaians, spans January 3, 2008 to January 10, 2008.

The more than 200 participants are taking part in symposia, panel discussion and listen to lectures on topics like: "Promoting Health for All: The Challenges," and "Increasing the Utilisation of Information, Communication and Technology in Tertiary Education."