Zuarungu (U/E), Feb. 27, GNA – The Zuarungu Nursing and Midwifery Training College (ZNMTC) in the Bolgatanga East District of the Upper East Region has called for Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to construct a hostel facility for students.
Mr Michael Yidana Mantamia, the Principal of the College, who made the call, indicated that about two-thirds of the student population rented rooms outside the campus, which exposed them to several attacks from unknown people.
Speaking at a matriculation ceremony of 619 students of the College, the Principal said the College urgently needed a 500 or more capacity hostel accommodation for students to give them some protection.
Mr Mantamia appealed to benevolent organisations and individuals to help the College with a student hostel.
“We also welcome organisations or individuals who may want a Public Private Partnership arrangement to kindly alert us for engagement,” he said.
That, he reiterated, would help curtail the undue attacks and extortion students were exposed to, check indiscipline and enable students to have the peace of mind to study in a conducive environment and maintain the College’s excellent academic performance.
Apart from the hostel facility, the Principal said staff had no accommodation on campus.
“They struggle to rent outside, which is affecting their morale and management of the College.”
He further called for a standard library, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and skills laboratory facilities for effective academic and practical training sessions.
Mr Mantamia commended members of the College’s Advisory Board for their effort at helping the College acquire some bags of cement to start the construction of the skills, ICT and library facilities.
Mr David Akolgo Amoah, the Bolgatanga East District Chief Executive (DCE), acknowledged the infrastructure challenges of the College, and said the Assembly would help solve them.
On attacks on students, the DCE, who is also the Chairman of the District Security Council (DISEC), said the Assembly had collaborated with the District Police Command to mount a barrier along the road to the College, with intense police patrols to protect lives and property.
He said Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia was championing improved ICT in the country and gave the assurance that the Assembly would ensure the College would not be left out should there be any allocation of computers to Colleges.
Mr Amoah advised the students to learn the ethics of the nursing profession and implement same in their future work environments after successful completion of their training.
“Don’t just learn and pass your exams, but implement the ethics to save lives.”
Some students of the College told the Ghana News Agency that landlords with accommodation closer to the College took advantage of the lack of hostel facilities on campus to charge exorbitant rents.
They said some of them stayed far from the College and commuted on daily basis to campus for lectures and group studies, especially at night, and corroborated attacks on them by unknown persons as indicated by the Principal.
GNA