Accra, June 23, GNA – The Ministry of Education said today a Higher National Diploma (HND) ranks next to a first degree because the equipment levels of Polytechnics cannot support courses leading to the award of degrees. This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Issac M. S. Eshun, Director of Statistics Research and Public Relations, after a day’s meeting to find a solution to the grading of the HND awarded by polytechnics. The meeting was attended by top officials of the National Accreditation Board and the National Council for Tertiary Education. The statement said the ministry is equipping the polytechnics to eventually support degree programmes. The Ministry therefore advised polytechnic students to seek affiliations with professional bodies which recognise their courses to enable them to upgrade and integrate themselves fully into their professions after their courses. They should also work hard to prove their worth and credibility to gain recognition from employers and market their services. The statement called for the upgrding of most of the teachers in the polytechnics to enable them to teach courses leading to the award of degrees, adding that “a systematic training programme is currently underway to achieve the goal”. Laboratories and other practical works done by the students to complete acadamic work should be comparable to what obtains in the universities. “The knowledge and skills of laboratory and workshop technicians and instructors at the polytechnics also have to be upgraded to enable students to derive maximum benefits from equipment used in their studies for programmes and courses at degree level”. It emphasised that there should be a uniform external examination system whereby external examiners should be involved in the moderation of questions, marking schemes and have access to marked live scripts for assessment. It pointed out that at the moment, the library holdings in the polytchnics are yet to be properly augmented and upgraded to enable students to borrow requisite and relevant books and have access to reference facilities for higher acadamic work. “It is obvious from the foregoing that the polytechnics, for now, cannot successfully offer programmes and courses leading to the award of degrees, In the meantime, they can only offer certificates, diplomas and the HND” The statement said the polytechnics would eventually award degrees when adequately facilitated in terms of human resources, both qualitatively and quantitatively, laboratories, workshops, libraries and the supply of appreciable levels of other teaching and learning materials. The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of Kumasi Polytechnic last week appealed to the Ministry of Education to come out with the correct status of the diploma awarded by the polytechnics. The students contended that the delay by the ministry in resolving the controversy was causing embarrassment to holders of the diploma. This is because while the relevant law states that the HND is equivalent to a first degree awarded by the universities, employers do not regard it as such.
