Desist from deviant behaviour — Rector tells Accra Poly students

The Rector of the Accra Polytechnic, Prof. Sylvester Achio, has advised students to desist from deviant behaviour which tend to drag the image of the institution into disrepute.

According to him, negative acts like alcoholism, drug abuse, unbridled sexual activities, indecent and offensive dressing were some of the habits which could dent the image of the school and affect its achievements.

He has, therefore, entreated students to read the Students’ Handbook with all seriousness and abide by the school’s rules and regulations.

The rector gave the advice at the 21st matriculation of the polytechnic  in Accra on Friday.

Challenges  

Speaking on some of the challenges that cropped up from the admission process, Prof. Achio said polytechnics  were instructed to abide strictly by the A1- C6 requirements of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation Board (NAB) .

Therefore, he explained that applicants who met the minimum requirements with aggregate 36 or better in the WASSCE and 24 or better in the SSSCE with mixed grades of D7 and E8 in any of the three core areas were not admitted.

However, he said  rectors and other stakeholders admitted applicants with the D7 and E8 on condition of they passing a three-month special access course programme.

According to the rector, the conditional applicants who would be successful at the access examinations would be enrolled fully into the mainstream HND programmes.

“My advice to these applicants is to study hard and pass the access course examinations in order to make a stronger case for  the government to hasten the process of streamlining the admission criteria into the polytechnics,” he said.

Infrastructural development

Speaking on the development of facilities in the polytechnic, Prof. Achio said the commencement of the new academic year had seen the completion of a 600-capacity six-storey modern hostel.

He also announced the establishment of a gymnasium resourced with modern equipment for staff of the polytechnic.

“The gymnasium demonstrates to me that nothing is more important than the fitness and well-being of our staff. The gymnasium is a remarkable achievement that will play a key role in providing a holistic routine exercise regime for our staff,” he added.

Furthermore, he indicated that the school had concluded arrangements to purchase a hundred  acre land at Mempehoeasem near Samsam.

The purchase of the land, he said, was to facilitate the establishment of a satellite campus in order to reduce the pressure on the school’s current campus.

Council Chairman’s address

In an address read by the Chairman of the Alumni Association of the Accra Polytechnic, Mr Cornelius Dzikunoo, on behalf of the Council Chairman of the Polytechnic, Prof. Joshua Alabi, hailed the polytechnic as one of the country’s best centres of learning with respect to technical, applied sciences and arts, engineering and vocational skills training at the tertiary level.