RELEASE GETFUND HOSTELS TO POLYTECHNIC AUTHORITIES (PAGE 11)

THE Rector of the Sunyani Polytechnic (S-Poly), Prof. Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, has appealed to the government to release the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) hostels situated in and around the campuses of the various polytechnics in the country to the authorities of the institutions concerned to manage them.
This, he said, would enable the polytechnics to use the income that would be derived from their management to put up more hostels to ease the accommodation problems on the various campuses nationwide.
Prof. Nsiah-Gyabaah made the appeal at the 13th matriculation of the polytechnic at the weekend, and appealed to the various student associations of polytechnics and alumni to take up the challenge of building hostels for students whose numbers were increasing year by year.
He commended the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the S-Poly for initiating one of such projects to provide accommodation for the students.
Currently, he said, the Polytechnic run 13 full time tertiary programmes, including Bachelor of Technology, seven Higher National Diploma and five Technician programmes.
Prof. Nsiah-Gyabaah asserted that in line with the polytechnics’ objectives, it would continue with its higher degree expansion programme to cover areas such as Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management (HCIM), Carpentry and Joinery (C&J), Electrical/Electronics Engineering and other Applied Sciences and Engineering programmes.
In running these programmes, he said, the polytechnic would remain focused and provide the practical training and skills required for the industrial transformation and sustainable development of the country.
The rector disclosed that the polytechnic received many complaints from students about high rent charges and poor sanitary conditions in many of the private hostel around the polytechnic last year, and expressed his gratitude to the GETFund for providing a hostel for students.
Prof. Nsiah-Gyabaah bemoaned the moral decadence that had engulfed all tertiary institutions in the country such as indecent dressing, drug abuse, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, occultism and hooliganism, saying that the S-Poly would continue to enforce discipline among students and staff of the polytechnic community.
He announced a ban on “ponding” of students on campus and warned that students who engaged in such acts would be dismissed when caught.
“As you were informed during the orientation, ‘ponding’ of students is a major offence in the polytechnic. Students who engage in this act will be dismissed. You are therefore warned to desist from such acts, for, “a word to the wise is enough”, he stressed.
Prof. Nsiah-Gyabaah, however, assured the freshmen and women that the polytechnic would always protect and support students who were humane, respectful, law-abiding and disciplined, saying “Discipline is necessary for knowledge acquisition and intellectual development”.
The rector advised the freshmen and women to develop their entrepreneurial skills so that they would leave the polytechnic as ‘job creators’ or ‘employers’ and not ‘job seekers or employees’.