'Polytechnic students need one year practical training'

The Rector of the Ho Polytechnic, Dr Jakpasu Victor Afun, has advocated a full year practical training for polytechnic students, to enable them to master their skills and also the use of wide array of equipment available in industries.

Speaking at the 13th graduation ceremony of the polytechnic, the rector said since the attachment was for students to  master the various skills available, the current 10-week period allocated for the exercise was not enough.

He, therefore, suggested a full year of industrial attachment after the third year, — the national service year when all polytechnic students are placed in relevant industries to acquaint themselves with the realities of the job market.

The polytechnic has its roots from the former Ho Technical Institute, which was established in 1968 to provide pre-technical training courses in various engineering and building trades.

The school, like many polytechnics in Ghana, has been at the forefront of training skilled personnel in various disciplines to meet the country's human resource requirement for industries.

When it was tranformed into a polytechnic in 1997, its mandate did not change much. At this year's graduation ceremony,  1,079 students  were awarded Bachelor's Degree and Higher National Diplomas. Out of this number, 21 graduates were awarded Bachelor of Technology in Automobile Engineering and five others in Agricultural Engineering. In all, 15 of them obtained First Class.

On improving the teaching staff, Dr Afun said the Ho Polytechnic and two other polytechnics were to start Masters in Technology programmes. This will start this year. These, he said will be available for B.Tech students and Instructors who are willing to upgrade themselves to lectureship status. With this arrangement, the polytechnics would have produced the core of the teaching staff to handle programmes in the technical universities.

On discipline, he said 13 students had been dismissed for  various offences such as gaining admission with falsified West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) results, examination malpractices, sexual assault on a female student, stealing and admission fraud.

On challenges, Dr Afun mentioned the short supply of equipment  facing some of their departments, noting that staff and students housing had also been a major challenge.

He said they had contacted three contractors to assist them put up student hostels on Build Operate and Transfer basis, adding that they are also putting up a five-storey 20-unit, three bed-room self-contained residential block with the support of the GETFund.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Minister for Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama  congratulated Ho Polytechnic for pioneering the Competency Based Training (CBT) programme after producing the fourth batch of graduates.

President Mahama underscored the importance of polytechnic education which he said was the central part of the educational reforms.

He said because of this, the government had put in some actions geared towards deepening Technical Education. He mentioned these as the creation of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (COTVET) as well as the establishment of the Skills Development Fund (SDF).

On conditions of service, the President said the government was resolute in making their salaries and other conditions of service attractive to attract the best professionals to the polytechnics, adding that all staff of the polytechnics had been successfully migrated to the SSSS as at October 2012.

On infrastructure, the President said that the government had not relaxed in its effort and as such they had put two new projects under construction, a 20-unit five storey block of flats for staff and a five storey lecture theatre for the Faculty of Art and Design which are 50 per cent complete.

Earlier in a welcome address, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Ho Polytechnic, Professor Anthony A. Adimado made reference to the appointment of two of their illustrious alumni, Mr Seth E. Terkpe and Mr Francis Ganyaglo as Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and Deputy Volta Regional Minister respectively, and said these attest to the school's academic exploits.

By Emmanuel Modey