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The Sunyani Polytechnic (S-Poly) has introduced a Higher National Diploma (HND) programme in Ceramic, Brick and Tile to facilitate, encourage and promote the use of local raw materials in the building and housing industry. Professor Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, Rector of the institution, who told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on Thursday in Sunyani, said the course is to assist in the short, medium to long term, a reduction in the over-reliance on imported materials to cut down cost building in the country. According to a research finding by the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), the use of brick and tile and other locally-produced building materials would reduce the cost of building by 20 per cent, the Rector added. He said students would acquire theoretical and practical knowledge to equip them either as building contractors with emphasis on the use of locally produced raw materials or employees of companies in the building construction industry. The Professor explained that the Polytechnic's decision to introduce the programme was informed by the availability of abundant clay deposits in the Brong Ahafo Region because "housing has become a critical area of public concern" in the country. The Rector was of the view that the programme's potential as a possible source of employment would not be restricted to those students who would be formally enrolled on the course because the National Youth Employment Programme could use that sector to provide jobs for many of the unemployed youth. Professor Nsiah-Gyabaah said the country was faced with acute accommodation problem as a result of housing shortage and expressed the hope that the introduction of the programme would help individuals and families to develop the taste for brick and tile houses instead of the sandcrete ones as a solution to the problem of shelter. The Rector said the Polytechnic was waiting for accreditation from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to commence, saying: "the S-Poly would become the first to offer such a course among the ten Polytechnics in the country". He said however, that the reliance on brick and tile as a means of providing descent, adequate and affordable housing for the people could not be achieved without some challenges. The professor recalled a recent national housing conference organised jointly by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, BRRI and the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA) which identified among others the issue of wiring citing that whilst in concrete buildings both conduit and surface means could be used, in the brick and tile houses, one was restricted to surface wiring. Professor Nsiah-Gyabaah argued that the provision of descent, adequate and affordable housing for the poor had become a major development challenge because previous and current government interventions had failed to reach the housing needs of the poor, low-income groups and the marginalized in the society. He pointed out that "housing is descent, adequate and affordable when it is economically viable and accessible to the poor", adding that: "it must also be environmentally sound, adaptable, healthy for occupants, cost-effective and meet people's changing lifestyles". The Professor said this could not be achieved without proper recourse or conscious national effort and commitment to the adoption and use of greater amount of local materials in the building industry. The Rector lamented that lack of affordable housing was making otherwise laudable objectives of the 1975 UN Habitat for humanity, Sustainable Development by the 1987 World Conference on Environment and Development (WCED) the Millennium Development Goals (MDG 2000), Ghana's Vision 2020 and the shared vision of achieving middle income country status by 2020 unattainable.