Accra College of Education calls for infrastructure and staff development

The Accra College of Education on Saturday held its 11th Congregation for three batches of students from three different cohorts with a call on government to assist in the infrastructural development of the College.

The congregation ceremony awarded Diploma in Basic Education to 304 graduates, Certificate ‘A’ teachers to 54 graduates and Four-year Untrained Teachers Diploma in Basic Education by distance mode to 19 graduates.

Dr Samuel A. Atintono, the Principal of the College, who made the call, said the current hostel facility of the College could only accommodate 620 students on campus but the school had a student population of 960 students.

He said the reason the school had been managing with the situation was because, the current Diploma Course, had one batch of about 320 students were having their practical teachings on field, thereby, easing the pressure on the hostel.

He, however, said the introduction of the new four-year Bachelor of Education programme would not allow students to go out of the school for the one-year practical period, hence, the need to increase the accommodation facility for students on campus.

Dr Atintono said out of the 1,505 applications for admission received by the college for the 2018/2019 academic year, 1,262 qualifying for admissions, and only 322 were admitted due to inadequate staff and infrastructure.

He urged all stakeholders to work collaboratively to improve the situation in the shortest possible time, saying that, “We have submitted a request to the Ministry of Finance for financial clearance to augment the staff with new recruits”.

The Principal said the College had a staff-strength of 82 made up 37 academics and 45 non-academic staff and the number was not the full complement of its manpower needs.

He commended the Government for the introduction of the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) programme, which had been organising capacity building workshops for College Tutors both at college and national levels, leading to the improvement of the professional development of tutors.

He urged the graduates to familiarise themselves with the ongoing reforms of the industry and ensure that they passed the exams to obtain the required the license for professional practice.

He said: “You are graduating at a time that there are a number of reforms in the profession such as the National Teachers Standards (NTS) and the Licensure Exams”.

The Principal urged them to take along what they had learnt in the College with passion, and with driven determination, use the knowledge and skills gained to make a difference in the lives of every single pupil they would teach.

Prof Domwin Dabire Kuupole, Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast speaking on the theme: “Teacher Education in Contemporary Times: What the New Teacher Must Know and Do”, said the duty of the teacher must go beyond pupils passing examinations.

He said teachers should encourage children to take part in diverse activities such as playing, sporting, singing, dancing, weaving, drawing, carving, cooking, growing crops, painting, and swimming among others.

Prof Kuupole said we were in a contemporary time, where education was no longer about memorisation of facts.

He explained that education was now about creating knowledge, finding the latest information and using it to solve societal problems.

He said it was important for every nation to promote teacher education since it was an enterprise on which many lives depended.