Day: April 8, 2024

In dazzling glitz, pride, and bliss, the Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) College of Education in Cape Coast held a grand durbar to celebrate its historic 100th year milestone in the training of excellent women educators in Ghana. The centennial celebration, interspersed with breath-taking musical and cultural performances, was also made special by the presence of countless renowned academics, political figures, the clergy, and traditional leaders. It was held on the theme: 'Hundred years of holistic teacher education: Retrospection and prospects.' The OLA College of Education, the first women's teachers' college in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa, was established in 1924 by catholic nuns at the Saint Mary's Covent School in Cape Coast. The college commenced with only six students and has since established itself as a prestigious training institution, feeding the country's education system with thousands of female teachers over the decades. In a noble move, the college marked its centenary with the launch of a jo urnal to support an endowment fund offering scholarships for science and maths education students. The anniversary also saw the college honour its past principals as well as teaching and non-teaching staff some of whom were honoured posthumously. Mrs Samira Bawumia, the Second Lady, who graced the occasion, gorgeously donning the centenary cloth, observed that OLA had over the years been a beacon of hope for countless individuals, providing quality teacher training programmes that had produced exceptional educators. 'It's our hope that OLA continues to play practical role in the development of our dear nation to continue to produce hardworking and industrious women who will go on to contribute diligently to the development of this country just as they have been doing of the past years,' she said. Mrs Bawumia indicated that teacher education was the corner stone of any educational system because teachers shaped the future of society by nurturing the minds of future leaders and innovators. She acknowledged and endorsed the need for a holistic approach to teacher education, stressing that holistic education went beyond imparting knowledge to fostering critical thinking, empathy, creativity, and resilience in students. The Second Lady maintained that it was crucial to invest in the education and the skills development of the youth, arguing that education was the quickest way for Ghana to develop. 'That is why our government remains focused on its vision of ensuring that quality education becomes accessible to all children irrespective of their social and financial circumstances. Mrs Bawumia extolled OLA College for its contributions to Ghana's education and urged it to continue that path. 'Women empowerment is possible with an educated girl. Therefore, let us continue to promote learning by motivating our students to learn and by developing knowledge, attitudes, and skills,' she added. Dr Regina Okyere-Dankwa, Principal, OLA College of Education, said the college remained steadfast in its commitment to foste ring intellect, character, integrity and compassion in its products. She noted that they had evolved with the changing times and reforms to ensure students received the finest holistic education characterised by compassion wisdom and service to humanity. Dr Okyere-Dankwa indicated that it had always been her vision to elevate college to the pinnacle of educational excellence since assuming the role as the principal in 2021. 'This vision, rooted in the principles of holistic education which aligns perfectly with our overarching goal of creating a unique centre of excellence for training teachers who are professionally driven and also imbued with a deep sense of inspiration and value orientation,' she added. She said the college was working to become a fully-fledged university and appealed to the Minister of Education to consider their request to transition into a university college for a start. Dr Mrs Okyere-Dankwa also expressed the college's dedication to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and appealed to government and all stakeholders to help them create a supportive ecosystem with the relevant infrastructure and resources. The principal further appealed to government to provide the college with buses and minivans for both students and faculty to facilitate their Supported Teaching in Schools (STS) experiences and supervision to fully realise the potential of the initiative. The STS is a practical concept where students are given the opportunity to observe and engage in classroom instructions under the mentorship of experienced educators. In addition, Dr Mrs Okyere-Dankwa expressed disquiet over the sorry state of the college's internal roads and pleaded with government to construct and resurface the roads with asphalt and transform the campus into a safer and more conducive environment for learning. She lamented that they were burdened with water crisis, infrastructural deficit and hefty electricity bills which threatened their capacity to maintain uninterrupted power su pply. She called all to all stakeholders including NGOs and philanthropical organisations to help the school invest in solar energy, infrastructure, and borehole construction. Dr Okyere-Dankwa thanked all stakeholders for their respective roles in the advancement of the school on every front. Prof. Dora Francisca Edu-Buandoh, a former pro-vice chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) expressed the need to invest in the continuous professional development of teachers. She said teachers needed to be abreast with current research in teacher education curricula, new methodologies, and new teaching philosophies. 'It is only when the teachers develop themselves to meet 21st Century education needs that they can impart same to the young women here,' she added. Source: Ghana News Agency

Professor Ahmed Abdulai Jinapor, Acting Director General, Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), says the Commission is urgently tackling the operations of satellite campuses in second cycle institutions and other unapproved venues by traditional universities to protect technical universities. He said the operations and increasing number of the satellite campuses by the traditional universities in such unapproved areas were negatively affecting the growth and development of the technical universities in the country and the Commission had warned such universities to cease operations. 'One of the biggest issues that we face and one that has affected technical universities negatively, has been the over proliferation of satellite campuses by most of the traditional universities. 'It is of no surprise that at Bolgatanga Senior High School, you have about five institutions running what is termed as 'distance education' programmes and GTEC is tackling this issue and as part of the processes of working on it, we have asked all these institutions to cease operations of satellite campuses,' he said. The Acting Director General, who made this disclosure at the 12th congregation of the Bolgatanga Technical University at Sumbrungu in the Upper East Region, said technical education was pivotal to the growth of the economy and GTEC was working to protect them and improve the quality of teaching and learning. 'Indeed, I am happy to announce that the GTEC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with about six institutions to cease the admission of students into about 210 satellite campuses moving forward. 'We believe this will give the technical universities the opportunities to also attract these students that mostly would have been in these satellite campuses,' he added. As part of protecting technical universities across the country, GTEC had established a Policy Advisory Committee tasked with the mandate of ensuring that all new applications for programmes by universities were within the niche areas of the s aid universities and did not also feed into the already saturated Ghanaian economy. 'This is important because often times, we find these well-endowed traditional universities operating and veering into programmes that naturally would not have been within their mandate…GTEC is very committed to ensuring that if technical education as being professed to be the engine for socioeconomic development of this country, then it is important for all technical universities in this country to be protected,' he said. On improving quality of tertiary education, he indicated, GTEC this year, would organise the first of its kind Tertiary Education Conference for major stakeholders to brainstorm on strategies to address challenges facing tertiary education. Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, Vice Chancellor of the University, said the University was repositioning itself to become globally preferred centre for technical vocational and training education and relevant contributor to the socioeconomic growth of Ghana and beyond. As result, he said, the University had introduced 17 more programmes at various levels including five Master of Science (MSc) programmes in Agriculture, its niche area, to empower students to find practical solutions to challenges of society. 'We are rekindling our collaboration with the University of Ouagadougou. The collaboration was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This will see the exchange of staff and students from both universities. 'We are also collaborating with Cosmos Innovation Centre, the Corporate Social Responsibility wing of Cosmos Energy, for training of young graduates in agribusiness. This programme is aimed at creating, training and empowering 'Agripreneurs' to innovate value addition in the agriculture value chain and create jobs. The programme is expected to run for three years, and it is worth US$100,000.00 annually,' he said. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) is repositioning itself to become globally preferred centre for technical vocational training education and a relevant contributor to the socioeconomic growth of Ghana and beyond. To this end, the University has introduced 17 more programmes at various levels including five Master of Science (MSc) programmes in Agriculture, its niche area, to empower students to find practical solutions to challenges of society, Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, Vice Chancellor of the University, has said. The programmes are MSc Crop Science, MSc Animal Science, MSc Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, MSc Postharvest Engineering, MSc Agriculture Farm Power and Machinery Engineering and MSc Procurement and Logistics Management. The others are Bachelor of Science (BSc) Medical Laboratory Science, BTech Data Communication and Networking, BSc Applied Statistics and Computing, BSc Electrical and Electronics Engineering and HND Welding and Fabrication. The rest are BSc Food Processing Te chnology, BTech Mechanical Engineering, BSc Tourism Management, BSc Computerised Accounting, BSc Marketing and Communication Studies and BSc Management Studies. The Vice Chancellor made this known at the 12th congregation of the University held at Sumbrungu, the University's main campus, where 628 graduands, comprising 328 males and 300 females, were awarded various honours. The Vice Chancellor noted that the University was considering extending Competency based training at all levels which had sponsorship from the GIZ and World Bank and urged the public to take advantage of the varied programmes to develop their competencies for job creation and poverty reduction. 'We are rekindling our collaboration with the University of Ouagadougou. The collaboration was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This will see the exchange of staff and students from both universities. 'We are also collaborating with Kosmos Innovation Centre, the Corporate Social Responsibility wing of Kosmos Energy, for training of young gra duates in agribusiness. This programme is aimed at creating, training and empowering 'Agripreneurs' to innovate value addition in the agriculture value chain and create jobs. The programme is expected to run for three years and it is worth US$100,000.00 annually,' he said. Professor Alnaa appealed to the government to grant financial clearance for the University to recruit lecturers, adding 'there is no commensurate increase in the teaching staff to train the students who get enrolled on the wide range of programmes. 'We have to contend with the existing staff and part-time lecturers, who currently are overloaded with so many courses, to teach and this is very strenuous and negatively affecting the instructional delivery as well as assessment of students.' The Vice Chancellor noted that the University was further confronted with infrastructure deficit and while management was doing everything possible to improvise decent places for students to have lectures, it behoves government to fast-track the request of the University for Lecture Halls which had been on the drawing board since 2017. Professor Francis Abantanga, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the University, said despite the challenges, the University since its humble beginning in 1999, had grown in the technology-based programmes which were impacting positively on the growth of the country and beyond. Professor Abantanga advised the staff to undertake researches that aimed at mobilizing revenue for the University and the country as a whole, adding 'research is key in the development of all economies and also plays key role in your progress as staff.' Mr Stephen Yakubu, the Outgoing Upper East Regional Minister, said despite the many challenges, the University had contributed significantly to the growth of the economy by producing solution-oriented students and urged all stakeholders to play key roles in consolidating the gains of the University. Source: Ghana News Agency