Conference on Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa opens at Winneba

Winneba(C/R), Feb. 21, GNA - Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, Vice Chancellor of University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has called on stakeholders in education to support the provision of quality education to students and make teacher education affordable.

He said the nation's development depended on the quality of its workforce and therefore urged Universities and other higher institutions to live up to expectation.

Professor Anamuah-Mensah made the call when addressing the opening session of a four-day International Commonwealth (COL) Conference on Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) at Winneba. Twenty participants drawn from Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and Benin are attending the conference co-hosted by UEW and University of Cape Coast (UCC).

Representatives from Open University of the United Kingdom (UK) and some students from UEW are also attending.

Professor Anamuah-Mensah said since school was the major formal "institution for preparing the manpower needs of society for national development, the type of preparation children receive in schools has to be thorough to ensure high quality human capital to guarantee quality national development."

He said high quality teacher preparation and continuous professional development were essential to the realisation of a nation's development aspirations.

"Teacher expertise has a major influence on the learning and achievements of students. Teachers are therefore, required to possess the requisite knowledge, appropriate pedagogical skills and dispositions towards creating positive learning environment for students," he said. Mr Ato Essuman, Chief Director, Ministry of Education, Science and Sports urged authorities of UEW and UCC to produce quality teachers needed to develop quality workforce for national development.

He called for the establishment of strong monitoring system to ensure policies on education taken at the regional level were implemented at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District levels to promote education in the country.

Mr Essuman said the ministry would not entertain teachers who would refused postings to rural area and warned that such teachers would be sanctioned.

Madam Jane Devereux from Open University of UK, explained the concept of TESSA to the participants as a designed guidance for teachers and educators working in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor Aboagye, Director of Institute of Education, UCC asked the participants to use conversational methods to train teachers.