TAMALE POLYTECHNIC PROMOTES ENGINEERING STUDIES (PAGE 11, AUGUST 9, 2010)

THE Tamale Polytechnic (T-Poly) has embarked on an outreach programme to encourage more young people to pursue engineering studies after the completion of their Senior High School Education.
According to the Dean of the Engineering School of T-poly, Mr Yakubu Ibrahim Seini, getting more young people to become engineers was necessary for transforming the country into an industrialised nation.
“We need to get more of our youth to acquire skills that would enable them to produce and operate the machines and equipment that we need to run our industries so as to reduce our dependency on importation,” he stated.
After addressing students of the Bole Senior High School, Mr Seini told the Daily Graphic that polytechnic education offered the youth useful skills that could help them to be self-employed or gaining employment in various firms.
He said the engineering courses, in particular, enabled students to learn the art and skills involved in the production of machinery, housing, electronics and automobiles, adding that these skills were sought after by various companies on regular basis.
The engineer noted that the Engineering School at T-Poly had realised that a lot of students who came to the polytechnic applied to offer business courses like accounting, management and marketing, while ignoring the engineering courses.
He said one of the reasons that accounted for this situation was that the students knew very little about the engineering courses and the job opportunities offered in the field.
“A lot of SHS graduates have little knowledge about the courses offered at the polytechnic. All they hear about is accounting and marketing, and so when they end up applying for these courses even though they may be qualified and suited for engineering,” Mr Seini explained.
He said it was for this reason that his outfit had decided to embark on the outreach programme to enlighten the students about the type of courses offered at the polytechnic and to place more emphasis on the Engineering courses.
“We wanted them to know the various courses offered at the Engineering School, requirements for admission, job prospects after completion and the options available for academic progression,” he further pointed out.
Mr Seini mentioned that the Engineering School offers a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Mechnical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Industrial and Commercial Arts, Building Technology and Agricultural Engineering.
“Very soon, we would commence the Bachelor in Technology (B-Tech) programme, when issues of accreditation are done with,” he noted.
The engineer entreated students to seek enough information about the courses they intended to offer at the tertiary level in order not to make the mistake of finding themselves at the wrong place.