Story by Dennis Bebane
Upper West Regional Minister, Charles Lwanga Puozuing, says teacher education is a cornerstone of national development.
He noted that the future of Ghana’s education rests on the shoulders of teachers and government is committed to transforming the sector to deliver quality education to students.
He disclosed that the government will soon roll out the free tertiary education for all first-year students, including Colleges of Education. Lawnga Puozuing was speaking at the 9th Congregation of Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya College of Education in Wa.
The College’s 9th Congregation saw 274 students graduating as the second batch of the four-year Degree Programme rolled out by government in the Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya College of Education in Wa.
Out of the number, seven obtained first-class honours, made up of six (6) males and a female. They took home cash prizes, laptops, and tablets.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Charles Lwanga Puozuing, said government is determined to resource and strengthen the students’ loan scheme to enable them to access it to finance their education.
The Principal of the college, Shani Osman, revealed that last year, a total of 1,363 students applied for the school, and management deemed 1,035 qualified but could only admit 437.
Touching on the school infrastructural challenges, Mr Osman lamented that three ongoing GET-Fund projects, which were started in 2010 and 2013, have been abandoned. The projects are the construction of a 2-story lecture hall complex with offices, an auditorium complex with ancillary facilities, and a boys hostel.
“Some of the contractors working on these projects have not been paid their interim certificates since 2020. In addition to that, they are now seeking an adjustment of the rates because of the galloping depreciation of the cedi and the large increase in the cost of labour and building materials,” he explained.
He appealed to government to renegotiate with contractors to go back to the site.
Mr Osman also reminded the new government of the previous administration’s promise to construct 300 bed capacity hostels in all 46 public colleges of education, which the contractor commenced work at his school and left the site and never returned.
An Educational Consultant and Guest Speaker at the event, Daniel Alimo urged Colleges of Education to introduce E-library to make online studies more effective and convenient for students.
He recalled how Covid-19 exposed the country’s weakness in terms of digital teaching and learning. Mr Alimo tasked school authorities to learn from the past and be proactive towards the future.
Mr Alimo was speaking on the theme, “Transforming Colleges of Education into Centres of Excellence for Developing 21st-Century Educators.”
