Staff Of Colleges Of Education To Build Capacity

The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), in conjunction with the universities in Ghana, is designing a programme for the staff of the various colleges of education to upgrade themselves as part of a structured staff professional development programme drawn up by the council.

The Executive Secretary of the NCTE, Mr Paul Effah, who announced this at the 1st congregation for the conferment of diplomas for the graduating teachers of the Evangelical Presbyterian College of Education (AMECO) at Amedzofe, said the programme formed part of moves to address the human resource challenges of the colleges.

One hundred and sixty-five trained teachers received diplomas at the ceremony, which was on the theme “Colleges of Education in Transition to Tertiary Status: Challenges and the Way Forward”.

According to Mr Effah, the human resource needs of colleges of education constituted one of the major challenges confronting the colleges, adding that remuneration and other conditions of service were also important factors that could facilitate recruitment and retention of qualified staff.

In this regard, he said the NCTE would make appropriate recommendations for improved conditions of service for the staff of the colleges which would be in line with the new status of the colleges as diploma awarding institutions.

He noted that the challenges that confronted colleges of education in the transition period were the same, and that the progress that would be made would largely depend on strong and strategic leadership of the principals of the colleges.

The executive secretary said in order to ensure quality in the delivery of education, the diploma programme being run by the colleges had to undergo a process of acquiring accreditation from the National Accreditation Board.

The Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Colonel Cyril Necku (retd), called on the graduating teachers to serve as role models for their pupils.

He also advised the teachers to demonstrate intellectual, moral and social leadership for the schoolchildren to emulate, as well as a high sense of moral and occupational judgement and skills, so that they would not become an embarrassment to themselves and their alma mater.

“As you receive your diplomas today and leave the walls of AMECO to begin your career as professional teachers, you must remember that a good and successful teacher is the one who is demonstrably competent academically, socially acceptable and morally high esteemed,” Colonel Necku stated.

The Principal of the college, Mr J.D. Koka, said while the upgrading of the school to a tertiary status was welcome news, it had posed greater challenges to the school in terms of infrastructural facilities and equipment which a diploma awarding institution deserved to have.

“The teaching and non-teaching staff also need academic upgrading. Therefore, a lot of academic staff have enrolled in master’s degree programmes in the local universities, and they need financial support to enable them to complete the programmes without delay,” he appealed.

Mr Koka thus appealed to the government to ensure the speedy completion of ongoing projects in the school to enhance teaching and learning.