Thousands of polytechnic and technical university students across the country are unable to apply for jobs as they have been denied academic certificates.

Though the students have completed their three-year HND courses and served their national service, the polytechnics and the technical universities have not graduated them.

The students say they have not been graduated because government has failed to constitute the governing councils for the polytechnics and the technical universities.

The previous councils appointed by the John Mahama-led government were automatically dissolved on January 7 this year when his administration ended.

According to the students who form the 2015/2016 academic year batch, the situation is not only affecting their employment status but also impeding their efforts to further their education.

“It has been more than a year we completed school without certificates to seek for jobs or even further our education due to government’s refusal or inability to constitute the governing councils of our various institutions,” they said in a statement.

Protest march

The students have taken steps, including a planned demonstration on Tuesday, to push the government to act swiftly in resolving the issue.

The students say they will converge at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on September 5, to march through some streets of the capital city to “register our disappointment in the government”.

According to them, all the necessary police approvals for the demonstration.

“We all know how much opportunities we have missed as a result of the situation. Come and let’s fight together for our certificates,” the statement urged all affected students.

DYMOG support

Meanwhile the Dynamic Youth Movement of Ghana (DYMOG) has in condemning the situation has backed the students in their resolve to demonstrate.

“It is highly unthinkable that in a dispensation where youth unemployment is skyrocketing, it is enormously shocking that, Government is propounding the canker that is fast depleting the hope of the Ghanaian Youth,” it said in a statement.

The group observed that there exist currently a vast majority of graduates with certificates who are unemployed and their situation worsened by the current economic hardship.

According to the group, the economic conditions in the country are not conducive enough in supporting start-ups while existing businesses are struggling to survive.

It said if the government is unable to create jobs for the unemployed, the least it can do is “to give these graduates their certificates so they can look for jobs on their own”.