Council for Tertiary Education must be transparent
A Coalition of Central Regional Youth groups and association say the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) has not been transparent and objective in the selection of polytechnics to be converted into technical universities.
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The group, led by the Alumni Association of the Cape Coast Polytechnic, said they rejected explanations by the NCTE on why the Cape Coast Polytechnic was not considered for the conversion of polytechnics to a technical university and gave the council up till Monday, February 22, 2016 to come out clear on the criteria used in selecting the polytechnics to be converted.
At a press conference on Friday, addressed by the Secretary of the Alumni Association of Cape Coast Polytechnic, Mr Richmond Yeboah, the group described the council’s explanation for selecting the polytechnics as “unsatisfactory, hollow and unacceptable,” adding the council had “no justification” to exclude the Cape Coast Polytechnic from the list of six polytechnics to be converted into technical universities.
The coalition
The Coalition comprises the National Alumni of the Cape Coast Polytechnic and representatives of the Central Region Youth for Development, the Fante Students Association, Cape Coast Development Association, Abura Youth Confederacy, Drivers Association of Cape Coast, the Students Representative Council of the Cape Coast Polytechnic, and Market Women Association of Cape Coast. It asked President John Mahama to hold on with making any statement regarding the selection and conversion of the polytechnics to technical universities in his State of the Nation address until the matter was resolved.
“We totally disagree with the NCTE’s position that the processes have been objective and transparent. We are, therefore, giving the NCTE a deadline of Monday, February 22, 2016, to come out clear and provide answers to questions that had not been answered in the processes.”
“The argument of readiness for the conversion is untenable and must not be applicable to the Cape Coast Polytechnic. We wish to put on record that the Cape Coast Polytechnic is by far ready and must be converted under phase one,” the group stated.
Unanswered questions
The coalition demanded that the NCTE must come out with the criteria which polytechnics had been selected and the technical committee report on the selection.
“We are happy to inform the press that the SRC of the Cape Coast Polytechnic, Market Women Association of Cape Coast, Drivers Association of Cape Coast, opinion leaders, chiefs and politicians across political divide and well-meaning citizens of the region have all joined us to fight for fairness,” the group further added.
