NDC to set up new College of Education
The next government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would establish a new College of Education as an Instructor Training College for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), at Agona Swedru in the Central Region.
It would also complete the establishment of three additional Colleges of Education in the underserved regions of Greater Accra, Central and the Northern Regions.
The NDC stated this its Election 2016 Manifesto, which was made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
It was published as part of the GNA’s project: “GNA Tracks Election 2016,” which seeks to sensitise the electorate on the various issues raised by political parties, elections management body and other governance institutions.
It also seeks to ensure gender and social inclusion in national politics and to provide voice for the youth, vulnerable groups, opinion leaders and the broader spectrum of the society, as well as contribute its quota to the achievement of a peaceful poll on December 7.
Another objective of the project is to create a platform to dissect the manifestoes of all political parties and provide in-depth analysis of each thematic area to the electorate to enable them to make an informed judgment.
The re-elected NDC Government would also complete the University of Environment and Sustainable Development at Somanya and its satellite campus at Donkorkrom in the Eastern Region.
The next NDC government would continue to implement the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning Programme (T-TEL) to cover professional training for 35,000 teachers in all the Colleges of Education.
It would complete the conversion of the ten Polytechnics into Technical Universities and adequately resource them to ensure the provision of advanced technical, vocational and technological training; and support capacity building for Faculty of Technical Universities and the tertiarised Colleges of Education.
The Party would continue to resource the public tertiary institutions to improve quality and expand the intake of qualified applicants; provide additional facilities to augment the operations of the new Medical Schools of the University of Cape Coast, University for Development Studies and the University of Health and Allied Sciences.
The NDC said it would initiate a review of medical training in Ghana with the objective of increasing the number of doctors to address the health needs of unserved and under-served parts of Ghana.
It would create an enabling environment for the increased establishment of high-standard private sector Medical Schools, which are well regulated and properly maintained.
It would continue to make allocations from the GETFUND for the training of faculty members of tertiary institutions and provide scholarships for the training of critical manpower needed to drive Ghana’s transformation agenda.
The next President John Dramani Mahama Administration would continue to engage and deepen support to private tertiary institutions to deliver on their mandate; and extend the Student Loan Scheme to students in all accredited Tertiary Institutions.
It would engage private tertiary institutions to focus training on the human resource requirements of the nation; and amend the GETFUND Act to extend support to private tertiary institutions engaged in science and engineering training.
“We propose to continue supporting the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open-Schooling (CENDLOS) to harmonise open and distance learning activities.
“We intend to increase support to, and empower the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ministry of Education to enable it make the necessary interventions for life-long education in line with the United Nations Sustainable.”
The Party would support the implementation of the National Literacy Programme.
The NDC would encourage the learning of sign language at various levels of the education system; strengthen the National Teaching Council, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, and the National Inspectorate Board to perform their assigned roles under the Education Act 2008 (Act 778).
“We will provide accommodation for teachers who accept postings to deprived rural schools; re-introduce incremental credit for Science, Mathematics, Technical and Vocational Teachers (TVET).
“Continue to issue financial clearance to employ more graduate teachers as and when appropriate; support teachers in science, mathematics and TVET to upgrade their skills.”
The NDC would introduce new strategies for attaining the national objective of 60:40 admission ratio in tertiary institutions in favour of the Sciences.
“We will establish a unit under the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) to coordinate interventions for linking tertiary education to industry; and continue to promote collaborative programmes between industry and tertiary institutions to increase opportunities for practical training and internship.
Incentives would be provided to industries and businesses that provide more room for internships; and continue to review curriculum development of tertiary institutions to meet the skills and human capital needs of industry.
The Party would support the Ghana Statistical Service to resume the production and publication of the monthly Labour Market Statistics to inform programme choices and accreditation at the tertiary level.
It would make entrepreneurship training a key component of the education system.
Source: GNA