College holds matriculation ceremony

Sunyani, Nov 1, GNA - The College of Renewable Natural Resources in Sunyani on Saturday celebrated its fifth matriculation ceremony with an appeal for the upgrading of its service conditions and infrastructure to become equivalent to institutions of similar status.

Mr. Lawrence Botwe, Principal, who made the appeal in his address said this would enable the college to attract, retain and motivate qualified staff to give of their best.

Thirty-five students, including seven females were admitted into the college for the three-year diploma course and took the matriculation oath administered by Nana Banfi Adomako, Registrar of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to which the college is affiliated.

Mr Botwe explained that the college was faced with the challenge of seeking funds for its upgrading to befit its status, saying deferred maintenance had become a major issue.

Student/staff ratios are not favourable and part-time lecturers are doing an increasing percentage of the teaching as it has become difficult to recruit and retain staff, he added. The Principal noted that equipment and facilities had become obsolete and morale had suffered and this had made it difficult for the college to survive "in a society that demands more with less". Mr Botwe expressed appreciation for the release of funds under GETFund to be used for the provision of staff quarters at Brosankro, the college's practical attachment base, but hoped that more funds would be made available for the rehabilitation of the science and the computer laboratories.

He congratulated the students for gaining admission into the college, as 117 applicants applied for admission this year. The Principal, however, expressed regret about the low female in-take, though to date, more than 300 females had been trained for the forestry sector and announced that the Forestry Commission had embarked on a series of gender sensitisation workshops to make the Commission more gender sensitive.

Mr Botwe appealed to parents to encourage their daughters to consider renewable natural resource management as a profession and expressed the hope that the college would be able to admit equal numbers of males and females in the near future.

He reminded the students of the numerous job opportunities that waited for them at the Forest Research Institute of Ghana and the Forestry Commission comprising Wildlife Division, Forest Services Division and the Timber Industry Development Division.

Graduates of the college also find ready employment with the numerous timber and wood working companies, he added.

Mr Botwe said the President's Special Initiative in Forest Plantation Development launched in September 2001 and the HIPC Plantation programme were other employment opportunities for graduates of the college who had the requisite skills in forest plantation development and management.

Among those present at the ceremony was Mrs Akua Debrah, acting Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Education.