Thirty-three first-year student trainees of the Nurses Training College (NTC) in Tamale have been dismissed for wrongful admission and possessing fake results. Nineteen of them faked their results, while the remaining 14 also had their training terminated for what the school authorities described as "wrongful admission". However, all 19 victims who were admitted with fake results have bolted from the school to escape arrest. When contacted on the issue, the Principal of the college, Mr Kombien Sayimah, stated that "the school does not admit Visual Arts and Business students so those affected were wrongfully admitted". He explained that the authorities had no choice but terminate the training of the affected students, adding that "when we are admitting students there is a tendency for some of them who are not qualified to pull through. If we ask them to stay, they will be wasting their time here". According to Mr Sayimah, the victims were initially offered the opportunity to re-write two other subjects from categories such as General Arts, Science, Home Economics and Agriculture, with emphasis on Chemistry and Physics, to qualify them to be admitted. The principal produced a copy of an announcement on admissions by the NTC published in the March 8, 2007 edition of the Daily Graphic that sug¬gested that Business-biased students did not qualify to be considered for admission. Mr Sayimah, therefore wondered why some students failed to adhere to the requirements for admission although the school had published them in the media. He indicated that the admission were done in consultation with the Nurses and Midwives Council of Ghana (NMCG) that had the final authority to screen prospective student trainees. "Unfortunately, the authorities will not refund their monies to them, since they completed the full semester before they were sent home. Those who remained adamant and paid for the second semester have had their monies refunded to them," he stressed. Fresh students at the NTC were required to pay about GH¢270 per semester. Some of the dismissed trainees blamed the authorities for admitting them when they knew that they (the students) were not qualified to be considered for admission. Touching on the fake results issue the principal expressed regret that every year the NTC had such cases although the authorities did not encourage such negative acts in the school. "Some students these days engage in such negative acts without their parents' consent; but eventually those caught are handed over to the law enforcement agencies," Mr Sayimah added. A source at the Zonal Office of the NMCG in Tamale, when contacted on the issue, confirmed that the NTC "does not admit Business-biased students". Source: Daily Graphic