CHURCHES URGED TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR TRAINING COLLEGES (PAGE 20)

Story: Joe Okyere, Cape Coast

THE Dean of the Institute of Education of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Joseph Kingsley Aboagye, has called on churches to continue to support teacher training colleges to enable them to meet their challenges.
He said as training colleges had been upgraded to offer diploma certificates, they faced new challenges of offering quality education so it would be important to provide them with the needed support to face those challenges.
At the launch of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Komenda Training College at Komenda, Prof. Aboagye said the time had come for the churches to continue with their support, instead of providing Bibles and hymn books.
He said the college, which had been at the forefront of teacher education, still lacked adequate accommodation for both teaching staff and students, and also faced water shortage.
According to Prof. Aboagye, the college, which had trained about 6,000 teachers, currently had a population of 735 students with a staff of 47 tutors.
He said despite its problems and challenges, the college had maintained a high academic profile, adding that it ranked fourth out of the 38 teacher training colleges in the country in the first Diploma in Basic Education examination conducted by UCC’s Institute of Education.
A lecturer at the UCC, Dr Dora Edu-Buandoh, who chaired the function, commended the founding fathers of the college — the Methodist Missionaries, for their contribution towards the provision of quality education in the country.
The Pro-Vice Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Haruna Yakubu, who performed the launching ceremony, urged the authorities and students of the college to use the occasion to reflect on the past and chart a new course to meet the current challenges.
The Bishop of the Cape Coast Archdiocese of the Methodist Church, Rev I.K. Quansah, gave a brief history of the college, and commended the founding fathers for the vision.