Wa Polytechnic cancels GAT Programme

Wa (Upper West) - The Wa Polytechnic has cancelled the Ghana Accounting Technicians' (GAT) programme from the list of courses due to student's diminishing interest in the discipline.

Abraham Kofi-Kuma Aidoo, Acting Principal of the Institution said this when he briefed the GNA on Monday at Wa in reaction to complaints by some applicants for the programme that they were denied admission.

He said those who opted for the course could not get admission and explained that if applicants were at least 15 in number, they would have been considered for the programme. Aidoo said "Only five students applied for the course which was organised on part-time and we do not have resources to pay teachers for the few students."

He noted that applicants were not showing much interest in the GAT programme because they did not qualify for students' loans. Aidoo said the cut-off point for admission into the Polytechnic was aggregate 24 but most GAT applicants obtained aggregate 25 and above and were not eligible for the package.

He said they decided to improve upon their grades to enable them to apply for the Higher National Diploma (HND) courses to qualify for the loans. Aidoo stated that the Polytechnic needed to provide adequate facilities to enable it to get accreditation to offer HND courses.

He said the Institution had started recruiting staff for the HND programme and expressed optimism that a green light would soon be given for the teaching of the courses.