The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Rivers State College of Health Science and Management Technology chapter, has appealed to the Rivers State Government to urgently reconstitute the institution’s Governing Council, which it says has been absent for about a decade.
The ASUP Chairman of the College, Destiny Obinna, made the appeal when the Rivers State Commissioner for Education visited the institution as part of a tour.
Obinna said the prolonged absence of the Governing Council had negatively affected the stability, accountability, staff welfare and overall development of the institution.
She also called for the implementation of consolidated academic allowances and end-of-academic allowances for academic staff in state-owned polytechnics and colleges of technology.
The ASUP chairman further urged the state government to urgently address the college’s dilapidated infrastructure and perennial flooding, which she said continue to hamper effective teaching and learning.
Obinna also called for an amendment of the law establishing the institution to facilitate its conversion to a polytechnic, which would enable it to access funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, and other government interventions.
She equally appealed to the government to employ part-time lecturers who have served the institution for more than ten years, stressing the need to strengthen the college’s workforce and improve the quality of education.
