SPEED UP PASSAGE OF COLLEGES OF EDUCATION ACT (PAGE 11, SEPT 3, 2010)

THE President of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF), Mr Emmanuel Kingsley Osei, has called for the speedy passage of the Colleges of Education Act.
That, he said, would spell out the roles and responsibilities of the councils of colleges and those of the principals.
“We know that Parliament is on recess now and we would be glad to see our bill being one of the first to receive the attention of Parliament as soon as it resumes sitting,” he added.
Mr Osei made the call at the 52nd annual conference of the Principals of Colleges of Education in Wa in the Upper West region.
It was on the theme: “Meeting Teacher Demand for Quality Basic Education in Ghana, the role of Stakeholders”.
According to him, even though the colleges were down –hearted by the delay in passing the bill they had a good cause to smile this year due to some achievements.
For the first time, he said the colleges had received their own allocation of funds from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and that this would go a long way to ensure effective use of funds to improve teaching and learning.
“Another piece of good news for the colleges came in the form of supply of 20 computers and accessories which included the installation of satellite dishes that will ensure internet access in the computer laboratories,” Mr Osei stated adding however, that like Oliver Twist we would plead that at least 20 more computers be added so that a class of forty can have effective lessons in the laboratory.
Mr Osei said although there were over 30,000 vacancies for teachers in schools, colleges were allowed to train only about 9,000 teachers.
That, he said, meant that the number of students admitted to the colleges had not changed for some years and that this year the number of qualified applicants to the colleges was over 30,000 but only 9,000 were admitted by the 38 colleges in the country.
He, therefore, appealed to the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo to help increase the quota so that the colleges that had the capacity to take more students could do so.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Education minister said the government had put in place measures to improve the quality of teaching and learning in all colleges of education.
He mentioned some of the measures to include the conduct of needs assessment in all colleges by the National Council for Tertiary Education so that well – informed decisions could be pursued, granting of institutional accreditation to all colleges of education and the allocation of funds through the GETFund to improve infrastructure.
For his part, the Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies, Professor Haruna Yakubu, urged the colleges to foster strong linkages between in –service and pre –service teachers since there seemed to be a disconnection between theory as taught in teacher education institutions and practice on the field.
“It is also vital that colleges support the establishment and utilisation of out of school resources such as museums to be used as teaching and learning centres.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Issahaque Salia, said the region had declared a vacancy of 850 teachers to meet the demand of basic schools but only 332 have been assured of places.
He expressed the hope that at the end the conference would contribute towards the attainment of the goals and objectives of the ‘Better Ghana Agenda’.