Chinese Exim Bank makes $119m loan available to expand facilities at polytechnics, technical institutes
The Chinese Exim Bank has made available $119 million loan facility for the expansion and upgrading of facilities and the provision of equipment for five polytechnics and 10 technical institutes in the country.
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A Chinese company, AVIC International Holding Corporation of China, will provide the machinery as part of measures to improve technical education in Ghana and prepare the students to meet international standards.
A representative of AVIC in Ghana, Mr Yu Hongpeng, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Kumasi after briefing the Principal of the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI), Dr Joseph Abaiku Apprey, about three of the students from the school who participated in African Tech Challenge in Kenya early this month.
He did not, however, mention the beneficiary institutions.
Three students from KTI, Mr Felix Amponsah, Mr Barnabas Safo and Mr Emmanuel Sarpong Banie, were sponsored by AVIC to participate in the six-week international engineering competition for 18 technical institutions in Africa. Ghana was represented by these three students from KTI who were coached by the Head of Industrial Mechanic Department of KTI, Mr Peter Adu Boachie.
Selection
Mr Yu said the 10 technical institutes and five polytechnics were selected by the Ministry of Education due to their strategic position for the expansion programme.
Currently, he said, it was left with just some few finishing touches from the Ghanaian authorities for the work to begin.
He also took the opportunity to inspect the size of the land at KTI where the structures would be built to house the equipment and machinery.
Each polytechnic would need 3,000 square metres of land while the technical institutes would require 2,000.
Refresher courses
Mr Yu said while the expansion was progressing, some of the teachers and lecturers of the beneficiary institutions would be sent to China to undertake intensive refresher courses for four months to be able to use the cutting-edge technology to train the students.
He said the experts from the AVIC International Holding Corporation would also be stationed at the beneficiary schools to assist with the usage of the equipment and their maintenance for about five years.
KTI
During the briefing session, the Head of Industrial Mechanic Department of KTI, Mr Boachie, described technical education as the magic wand that would unleash the nation’s industrial advancement, and called for greater attention to that sector.
He was, however, unhappy about some misconception by sections of the society that continued to paint the picture as though technical education was for dropouts.
He said the performance of the three students in Kenya was marvellous and noted that if Ghanaian technical students were exposed to similar machinery, they would make industrial breakthroughs.