Principals of Colleges want government to increase admission of students
Principals of Colleges of Education have said in Wa on Tuesday that, there are more than 30,000 vacancies for teachers at the basic schools level throughout the country.
They said despite this huge shortfall, the 38 Colleges of Education in the country could only train about 9,000 teachers this year, whilst some of them had the capacity to give admission to more students.
The Principals therefore appealed to government to allow colleges that have the capacity to take more students to do so without any hindrance.
Mr Emmanuel Kingsley Osei, National President of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF), said this at its 52nd Annual Conference on Tuesday, which was on the theme: “Meeting the teacher demand for quality basic education in Ghana – The role of stakeholders”.
He said the number of students admitted to the colleges had not changed for the past years and pointed out that the number of qualified applicants to the colleges stood at 30,000 but unfortunately the colleges could give admission to only 9,000 students.
Mr Osei called on the government to have the Colleges of Education Act passed, to spell out among others, the role and responsibilities of the College Councils and those of the Principal Officers of the colleges.
He said now that Parliament had passed Act 778 and placed the Colleges firmly in the tertiary realm, what remains to be done is to have the Colleges of Education Act passed.
The PRINCOF President therefore pleaded that action be expedited on the process, so that it could be given serious attention when Parliament resume sitting.
Mr Osei said the process of upgrading the colleges had been the slowest process in any educational reform ever introduced in the country.
He however noted that some people had expressed views that the colleges had been rushed through the upgrading process and described those perceptions as unfortunate because such people had not been interested to see the colleges upgraded.
Mr Osei commended government for allocating each college with funds from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND), which he said had helped to promote effective utilisation of the funds and improve teaching and learning.
He also thanked government for providing colleges with twenty computers and accessories as well as the installation of satellite dishes that would ensure internet access in the computers laboratories.
Mr Osei however appealed to government to increase the number to 40 computers to ensure effective Information and Communication Technology (ICT) teaching and learning at the training colleges.
Alhaji Issahaque Salia, Upper West Regional Minister, in a welcoming address, expressed regret that the demand for teachers in the country was still huge and that the Upper West Region was the worse off and needed to be addressed urgently.
He announced that the region had declared a teacher vacancy of 850 to meet the demand of basic schools, whilst it had been assured of only 332 Diploma Teachers for this year, leaving a deficit of 518 teachers.
Alhaji Salia called for collective collaboration among stakeholders to continuously expand facilities in colleges to increase intake of students to help address the deficit challenges of teachers in the system.
He suggested the upgrading of the academic qualification of tutors in colleges and as well, introduce improved incentive packages, to attract more teacher trainees.
Alhaji Salia lamented reports of teacher absenteeism in schools in the region and called on educational authorities to intensify supervision, to stop the practice.
He said the attainment of quality education was necessary for national development and that Ghana in its quest to progress and enhance economic growth; must achieve 90 per cent literacy rate and the role of teachers was pivotal in that regards.
He noted that, the quality of education that all would cherish could not be achieved without the active involvement of principals of the various institutions.
Alhaji Salia pointed out that colleges of education bear the onerous task of turning out the required manpower for the provision of quality education.
Source: GNA