The Ministry of Education has allayed fears that the conversion of Polytechnics into universities will compromise the quality of technical education.

In September next year, government will commence the process of converting Polytechnics across the country into Universities.

Concerns have been raised that the Polytechnics could be worse off if the conversion is not managed efficiently.

A Ghanaian academic, Professor Joseph Atsu Ayee, who is with the University of London, told Starr News that the Polytechnic education system could be jeopardized if the conversion is not done properly.

But Deputy Education Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has dismissed such fears saying the initiative has been well thought through.

“Most of our Polytechnics, virtually all of them, almost 70 percent of the students are offering business and marketing related programmes, that is not the reason why we set out to elevate the technical institutes in 1992 to become polytechnics...so there is a clear mission drift.

“With the new technical universities bill which we expect Parliament to help us approve, we are going to make it very strict that this has to be a technical oriented curricula, it has to be practical and skills oriented education,” Ablakwa told Starr FM’s Ibrahim Alhassan.