Alumni of the Tamale Polytechnic has\u00a0petitioned President John Dramani Mahama over the institution’s exclusion from the list of six polytechnics to be converted\u00a0into technical universities.<\/p>\n
In furtherance of government\u2019s policy to convert the nation\u2019s polytechnics into technical universities, a technical committee was tasked to select those that met the criteria.<\/p>\n
According to the technical committee\u2019s report, six out of the 10 polytechnics comprising that of Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua, Ho, Sunyani and Takoradi met the 16-point criteria.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”6MswAZX0WCQL63zfgrTdbTZlGNYG0r4Z”]The technical committee\u2019s report recommended that the remaining four polytechnics including Tamale Polytechnic should be assisted with infrastructure, equipment and the strengthening of their governance structure to enable them meet the conversion criteria.<\/p>\n
The Tamale Polytechnic Alumni have lauded government\u2019s conversion policy but unhappy about the exclusion of their Alma Mata.<\/p>\n
The Alumni President, Prince Mash-Hud Abdulai in a statement copied Citi News<\/strong>, called for modification of the technical committee\u2019s report to include the Tamale Polytechnic.<\/p>\n He argued that the Tamale Polytechnic\u2019s inclusion on the first list of conversion will create regional balance. The group’s concerns come after a protest was staged by a youth group in Cape Coast, over the exclusion of the Cape Coast Polytechnic from the first phase of the conversion.<\/p>\n Below is the Alumni’s full statement<\/strong><\/p>\n The Alumni of the Tamale Polytechnic has been following with keen interest, government plans to convert the Polytechnics into Technical Universities.<\/p>\n We note particularly the President\u2019s mention of the matter in the State of the Nation\u2019s Address (SONA), which demonstrates further commitment of the government to follow through the policy as a matter of priority.<\/p>\n The Alumni of the Polytechnic, however notes that, the President cited only six(6) out of the ten(10) existing Polytechnics and this could have given the impression that, the other Four (4) Polytechnics are not qualified or ready,as per \u00a0the stated conversion criteria.<\/p>\n We do understand that, the statement by the President and other documents relevant to the subject matter are only for purposes of illustration and urge government to proceed with the necessary steps and processes that would lead to the conversion sooner than later.<\/p>\n While we share the forgoing notion, we are both glad and proud to assure our alumni and current students that we have been in constant touch with the Polytechnic authorities and have a settled conviction that the Polytechnic is more than ready to become Technical University anytime soon.<\/p>\n Our conviction is based on an assessment of the programmemenu and the faculties available in the Polytechnic.<\/p>\n These, coupled with the available infrastructure, human resource and the strategic need to cite many more Universities in the northern sector, more so considering the deprived nature of the area, our belief coincides with the government\u2019s agenda to make tertiary technical education not only affordable but also accessible.<\/p>\n We further wish to draw the attention of Government through the Ministry of Education that when converted into a technical University, the then Tamale Technical University (TTU)<\/strong>could serve as a key resource and catalyst for the implementation and realization of the lofty development goals enshrined in the SADA project.<\/p>\n The point is that, the implementation of the SADA project cannot be without high level of research and technical expertise,which the TTU would readily supply to the labour market.<\/p>\n But we the Alumni of Tamale Polytechnic are not happy with the exclusion of Tamale Polytechnic among the first list of polytechnics to be considered and therefore call on the government to reconsider its decision by adding the Tamale Polytechnic considering the deprived nature of the area and regional balance as well.<\/p>\n In conclusion, we like to urge government to, in this incubation period take accelerated steps to engage thoroughly, all relevant stakeholders, share information and provide assurance in order to clear doubts around knotty or grey areas, as well as galvanize support and momentum for takeoff.<\/p>\n In all of the forgoing, we believe that government still retains greater responsibility to provide the required logistics, scholarship opportunities for faculty development, and general policy or legislative support, for the polytechnics in their emerging stages, all geared towards serving as the midwives of this major policy initiative.<\/p>\n We believe this is long overdue and nothing should stand in the way to start even if it is for a few courses in each of the ten (10)Technical Universities.<\/p>\n We welcome the Technical Universities Initiative and call on all to support the implementation effort of the Government.<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n PRINCE MASH-HUD ABDULAI<\/strong><\/p>\n PRESIDENT, TAMALE POLYTECHNIC ALUMNI<\/strong><\/p>\n By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah\/Citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alumni of the Tamale Polytechnic has\u00a0petitioned President John Dramani Mahama over the institution’s exclusion from the list of six polytechnics to be converted\u00a0into technical universities. In furtherance of government\u2019s policy to convert the nation\u2019s polytechnics into technical universities, a technical committee was tasked to select those that met the criteria. According to the technical committee\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n