Lecturers banned from selling handouts to students
The Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, has directed that the sale of handouts by lecturers to students be banned.
She has, consequently, asked the management of the various public tertiary institutions to ensure compliance.
In a speech read on her behalf by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr John Alexander Ackon, at the 11th congregation of the Kumasi Polytechnic last Saturday, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said apart from the sale of handouts putting extra financial pressure on students, those who failed to purchase such handouts were often targeted and unfairly treated.
In extreme cases, she said, “such students, I am told, can be intentionally failed”, adding that “this practice does not only place additional financial hardship on parents; it also does not promote research and originality and independent work by students”.
She said the cry of the students against the practice “has reached the corridors of government”.
The minister said the issue had been repeatedly reported to the government and “the President directs that a ban be placed on the sale of handouts to students”.
Alternatively, she said, lecturers could publish their notes as books and put such books in the bookshops for sale.
Conditions of service
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said the country was currently going through economic challenges and urged public sector workers, particularly those in the educational sector, to be circumspect in their demands for wage increments.
“We urge you to continue to be civil in your demands on government, as we are working to ensure that there is fairness and equity in the distribution of the national cake,” she stated.
She advised the graduands to be dedicated to the ideal of progress and strive to pursue honesty, sincerity, selflessness and hard work wherever they might find themselves.
Rector
The Rector of the Kumasi Polytechnic, Prof. Nicholas N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah, said the institution had graduated 2,392 students from the various departments, with 144 of them earning Bachelor of Technology degrees.
The rest pursued Higher National Diploma courses.
He also said the polytechnic was contributing its quota to national development through innovations aimed at solving national problems.
To that end, he indicated, through locally invented appropriate technology, “we now convert plastic waste into fuel, in partnership with Justcan Company”.
Currently, he said, the local technology, using the method of pyrolysis, “is able to produce mainly diesel and some quantity of kerosene”.
“This is how much the Kumasi Polytechnic has been able to contribute to the development and transformation of the economy of Ghana,” he said.