'Hasten transformation of polytechnics into technical universities'
Dr Abdulai Salifu Asuro, Rector of the Tamale Polytechnic, has appealed to the government to hasten the process of transforming the country’s polytechnics into technical universities.
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He said this would ensure skills training at the polytechnics, which was the surest way of curbing youth unemployment in the country.
Dr Asuro made the appeal at the eighth congregation of the Tamale Polytechnic held in Tamale on Saturday, where a total of 913 graduates were presented with Higher National Diploma Certificates in various fields, including, Accountancy, Marketing, Agricultural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Building Technology and Automobile Engineering.
He said “we see the government’s efforts in transforming the polytechnics into technical universities as demand-driven and a necessary ingredient in the country’s industrialization quest” and therefore, would not allow any further delay in the implementation of the technical university system.
He said the conventional universities and the proposed technical universities would have different approaches to training but the two steams would complement the country’s development efforts.
Dr Asuro also commended the government for setting up the Research Fund to finance academic research in the country, saying, it demonstrated its (government) unflinching support in deepening scholarly research through technical support.
He however said government must tread cautiously in the implementation of the fund “So that we do not deny any segment of the tertiary fraternity of funds to do research.”
He said the Tamale Polytechnic had undergone remarkable structural transformation, adding that, it was now well positioned to take polytechnic education in the country to a different level.
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He lamented about the inadequate infrastructure of the polytechnic, saying, some had been under construction for close to a decade now and appealed to the government for quick and timely release of funds to complete them.
Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, Minister of Education, whose speech was read for her, said the creation of the Research Fund was an innovative approach to funding research and appealed to all stakeholders “To come to terms with this arrangement for the benefit of all in the near future.”
She encouraged the graduates “not to join the Unemployed Graduates Association” but to be innovative and become self-employed because “Government has not got the capacity to employ everybody.”
She assured that government would continue to work to improve the infrastructural situation at the Tamale Polytechnic and other education institutions in the country.