President urges SDA College to assist in fighting poverty

Asokore (ER), Nov. 6, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor has appealed to the SDA College of Education to be at the forefront of government efforts at using education to fight poverty by producing teachers of "integrity, diligence and vision."

Declaring poverty as Ghana's "greatest enemy", President Kufuor said it was incumbent on the nation's education institutions to produce good teachers who could transform the lives of children to enable them face life positively.

In an address read for him during the passing out of first diploma students from the college at Koforidua, President Kufuor spoke about the role teacher training institutions played in the development of the nation and said the recognition of that awesome role informed government's heavy investment in that sector.

President Kufuor said he was expecting colleges of education to play a major role in the government's quest to improve upon teacher quality towards enhancing national development.

"We strongly believe that the implementation of the new education reforms will make a major impact on the development of the human resource of the country."

President Kufuor lauded the college's role in producing high calibre teachers including a Provost at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor S.O. Asiamah, Professors Francis Atsem and Ameyaw Domfeh of the University of Ghana, Drs Fredrick Ocansey and Ankomah Afari of the University of Cape Coast and Dr Seth Laryea who is the President of Valley View University.

The Eastern Regional Director of Education, Mrs Akosua Adu, spoke on the reforms and pleaded with traditional authorities to demonstrate unalloyed commitment towards the success of the initiative in their communities.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram-Asiedu, received a certificate from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) attesting the elevation of the then SDA Teacher Training College to SDA College of Education and later handed it to the Principal, Mr Akumfi Ameyaw.