STOP PLAYING POLITICS WITH EDUCATION ...Ghanaians advised (PAGE 11, DEC 18)

THE Rector of the Sunyani Polytechnic (S-Poly), Professor Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, has advised Ghanaians to desist from playing politics with education in the country, since it is key to the socio-economic development of every nation.
“If for political expediency, wrong decisions are taken on education, all sectors of the economy suffer,” he maintained.
He questioned why we should waste time and resources to debate the duration of the senior high school (SHS) system instead of finding strategies to adequately finance science-based education to reduce poverty and promote industrial transformation and the socio-economic development of the country.
Prof. Nsiah-Gyabaah gave the advice when he presented his report at the 4th Congregation of S-Poly, during which a total of 635 students who undertook various programmes received their respective Higher National Diplomas (HND), with Miss Esther Owusuwaa Deborah of the Electronics/Electrical Department emerging the overall best student.
The rector also sought to find out why the universities and polytechnics should be blamed for running business and arts-related programmes when the JHS and SHSs were non-science based.
He again declared, “If we do not pay attention to Science and technology education at the basic and secondary levels, we should forget about the rhetoric of achieving a middle-income status by 2015 or even a decade after.”
Furthermore, the rector pointed out that there was the need to focus on technical/vocational education and provide adequate resources to improve the practical content of technical education or else the resources of the country, including the oil finds, would be run by foreign technicians who he said came into the country as experts and repatriated their money to their countries of origin.
Prof. Nsiah-Gyabaah suggested that in a country beset with the challenge of high graduate un-employment, small business credit assistance was one thing which would help the graduates from polytechnics to start their own businesses.
The rector also pointed out that since the formal sector was not expanding enough to employ the young graduates, the government ought to set up what he termed a Small Business Administration (SBA) agency to help young entrepreneurs from the polytechnics to start their own enterprises.
He announced that S-Poly was not only involved in teaching but was also building capacities for applied science research and development, adding that the polytechnic had an Assurance Unit and a Research Department to improve quality of teaching and promote applied science and technology research.
“Our biggest achievement in this area is a two-million Canadian Dollar collaborative research grant provided by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada, which we won through hard work,” the rector stressed
In an address read on his behalf, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, noted with satisfaction that from a very humble beginning, S-poly was now developing a number of programmes in science and technology, in line with the government’s policy of emphasising those areas of study, as well as technical/vocational education and training (TVET).
He said apart from providing full-time course in the field of manufacturing, commerce, science and technology at the tertiary level, polytechnics were expected to provide opportunities for development, research and publication of research findings.
Nana (Dr) Justice Owusu-Ansah, the Chairman of S-poly Council, in his welcoming address, pointed out that the poor salaries and unattractive conditions of service for staff, had been a big challenge for the polytechnics, and suggested that improvement in the salaries and conditions of service would enable the polytechnics to recruit and retain qualified and seasoned staff for the demanding tasks ahead.
He observed that it was disheartening that each year most of the polytechnic staff left to take up appointments in the universities and other analogous institutions due to the unattractive conditions of service in the polytechnics.