Prez Mahama inaugurates laboratory at Ho Polytechnic
President John Dramani Mahama has urged the incoming technical universities to be entrepreneurial-oriented.
Consequently their courses should have a linkage with the job market.
Inaugurating a modern engineering learning systems laboratory for the Ho Polytechnic last Thursday, the President said it was important that graduates from the universities became entrepreneurs to create jobs and advance the cause of the nation.
The laboratory, funded by the government and other partners, is designed for hands-on training, industrial skills development and technical problem solution.
Linkages
President Mahama also asked the technical universities to develop linkages with industry in order to take advantage of the inherent advantages.
He said the relationship between the universities and industry would enable both entities to sustain growth in their areas.
The conversion of polytechnics to technical universities was a manifesto promise of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
About two weeks ago, President Mahama launched the initiative for the conversion of polytechnics to technical universities.
At the latest event, President Mahama told the large crowd present that he had given the go-ahead for the bill creating the technical universities to be placed before Parliament.
That means that the first batch of students for the four-year undergraduate programme would be admitted in the six institutions that have been selected under the first phase.
President Mahama stated that technical and vocational education provided enormous contribution to the national transformation agenda.
He mentioned the numerous infrastructure projects being undertaken in the polytechnics and said the development was a testament to the government's quest to ensure the institutions discharged their mandate effectively.
Science and technology
The Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, said the ministry was placing emphasis on Science and Mathematics at the lower levels of education.
That would help feed the technical universities with the required materials for admission, she said.
She added that the country had a good education system, stressing; "Ghana's education is getting better by the day."
The Rector of the Ho Polytechnic, Professor Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi, commended the government for fulfilling its promise to convert the polytechnics to technical universities.
He said the Ho Polytechnic was ready to take off.
