Mr Lawrence Amponsah, vice chairman of the Sunyani Polytechnic Chapter of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG), has described as unfortunate a statement that polytechnic graduates could not write proposals and application letters.
The statement made by Professor Jophus Anamoah Mensah the former Vice Chancellor of University of Education, Winneba, claimed that
graduates from polytechnics needed a re-orientation.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani on Tuesday, Mr Amponsah expressed disappointment that the
professor limited the situation to the polytechnics, noting it was a general problem that cuts across all tertiary institutions and needed to be addressed.
He admitted that though some graduates from various institutions and universities were performing poorly on the job market, it should
not be limited to the polytechnic students alone.
He said the polytechnics had over the years churned out great minds that had excelled in their chosen fields of profession.
Mr Amponsah said the statement by the professor is an indictment on the image and a slap on the face of polytechnics across the
country.
He said the structure of the polytechnics was such that lessons should be practical but the reverse was the case.
Mr Amponsah noted with regret that the government had neglected its responsibility towards the polytechnics making the practical
aspect of the polytechnic non-existent.
“Polytechnics education has been treated with contempt and disrespect and has been viewed as the last resort for students who
could not make it to the universities, a perception which should be changed” he said.
Mr Amponsah said the absence of attitudinal change could create problems for the polytechnics saying about 200 lecturers in the Sunyani polytechnic had vacated their lecture halls.
Dr Agyenim Boateng, a lecturer at the polytechnic, said there was no political will on the part of government to reinstate the
polytechnics to its position as a technical institute which focused only on the technical and practical aspect of tuition.
He called for funds and logistics to enable the polytechnics to produce graduates who would establish themselves as entrepreneurs rather than add to the existing unemployment in the country.