Graduates at the Congregation
The Interim Vice Chancellor of the Ho Technical University, Professor Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi, has challenged graduates from Technical Universities in the country to be job creators and not job seekers since every situation offers a great opportunity for them.
According to him, their certificates and education from the university are useless if they cannot use their skills and knowledge acquired to make an impact either as creators of jobs or change makers as employees.
“I will like to state that the university has played its role in preparing you for the world of work and it now behoves you to bring to bear the knowledge you have acquired over the years to contribute your quota to national development” he stressed.
He therefore cautioned them against the defeatist notion of what he called “no job in the public sector” mantra, adding that, “you are trained to be job creators and not job seekers and that is why you came to the technical university”.
Prof. Sakyi gave the caution during the 18th congregation of the Ho Technical University in Ho, the Volta regional capital, over the weekend.
He pointed to the graduates that the public sector cannot employ everybody. That is why they have been trained to take their destiny into their own hands; hence they should use their heads, hands and hearts to create the future they desire for themselves.
Challenges
Despite the academic excellence of the university, it continues to face challenges such as replacement of departed staff, retooling of workshops and laboratories, approval of new programmes and top up programmes, and a litany of uncompleted GETFUND projects.
He therefore pleaded with the government through the Minister for Education to step up efforts to meet the demands of the university.
The Chairman of the Governing Council of the Ho Technical University, Professor Emmanuel James Flolu, announced that the Council had approved a five-year strategic plan for the university, covering the period from 2017 to 2022. It would serve as a blueprint of the university’s present and future aspirations as a world class university.
He condemned the recent standoff between the staff and management.
The Minister for Education in a speech read on his behalf stressed that the ministry and the national council for tertiary education is committed to working closely with the Ho Technical University and other technical universities to breach the gap between the products being churned out and the job market.
The Volta Regional Minister whose speech was also read for him, noted that the five-year strategic plan that was launched in February 2018 by the President is aimed at transforming TVET delivery to achieve its objectives effectively and efficiently across the country.
He therefore called on the government to include all technical universities to play a crucial role in ensuring that the strategic plan initiated by the government is well implemented to make TVET more attractive and relevant to the employment requirements of the job market.
In all, a total of 1,005 students graduated, out of which 34 pursued Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree, and 971 pursued Higher National Diploma (HND). In all, 74 obtained first class honors; 88 obtained second class upper; 373 obtained second class lower and a total of 28 graduates obtained a pass.
Awards were presented to 25 students whose performances were outstanding and Donkoh Gordon (Computer Science Department) was adjudged the overall Best Graduating Student with GPA of 4.68.
From Collins Anku, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)