President Kufuor appeals to Polytechnics

Sumbrungu (U/E), Oct. 26, GNA- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday appealed to the lecturers and students of the Polytechnics to exercise restraint in their demands on Government.

He said they should rather appreciate the efforts being made to provide the various campuses with infrastructure and other educational needs under the prevailing difficult economic conditions. President Kufuor made the appeal at a meeting with students of the Bolgatanga Polytechnic at Sumbrungu, after he had inspected on-going projects at the school.

The projects estimated at about 13.5 billion cedis being financed by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund), include five staff bungalows, workshops and lecture halls.

President Kufuor said: "Ghana is a young country struggling to develop. If we insist on beginning with the best we may never start at all."

"There is the need for sacrifice in the interim," he said. President Kufuor said infrastructure being provided at the educational institutions were a testimony of Government's good intentions for the promotion of quality education.

He therefore expressed concern about the industrial actions often embarked upon by lecturers and students to back their demands. President Kufuor called on the pioneer students of the Polytechnic to be determined and focused in their contribution to the country's development.

He said Government appreciated the importance of the polytechnics, hence the efforts to upgrade them into a degree-awarding institutions under the New Education Policy.

Mr Richard A. Cantey, Acting Principal of the School, said the establishment of the Polytechnic had transformed the "wilderness in Sumbrungu" into a permanent educational centre. He said formal lectures began barely a year ago in temporary structures.