Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
The Rector of the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) Bauchi, Dr. Suleiman Lame has promised that all disabled persons in the state willing to study any course in the institution could do that free of charge.
Speaking with journalists after inspecting the newly constructed Departments of Tourism and Mass Communication (HND) Complex, the rector said aside the disabled people, students wishing to study Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry Education in the polytechnic could also enrol free of charge.
He said the gesture was aimed at empowering people with disabilities educationally and motivating the basic science students, adding that secondary schools in the state are facing shortage of mathematics, physics and chemistry teachers.
He explained that the polytechnic deemed it necessary to come up with such policy to promote education in the state.
Lame added that the institution, in collaboration with the Bauchi State Commission for Youth and Women Rehabilitation and Development (BACYWORD) is currently training about 4,000 youths drawn from the 20 local government areas of the state on entrepreneurial skills and remedial studies.
He said those who passed the remedial would be given automatic admission into various departments in the polytechnic, while others would be assisted to secure admission into universities. He said the entrepreneurial trainees are expected to start up small scale businesses and get self-employed at the end of the training.
He therefore commended the state government and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for the construction of needed structures and provision of requisite equipment in the polytechnic which paved way for the accreditation of all its programmes by regulatory bodies.
