Offinso College of Education holds 9th Congregation
The Offinso College of Education has held its 9th Congregation for 256 newly trained teachers to beef up the shortfall of professional teachers in the country.
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Speaking at the ceremony, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. D.D. Kuupole, said colleges of education had undergone some reforms towards improving academic and professional standards.
He said the major objectives of the Tertiary Education Reforms was to expand access, improve the quality of teaching and learning and provide the much needed infrastructure bases for accelerated technical manpower delivery and sustainable economic development.
Prof. Kuupole said it was an undeniable fact that the transition from Teacher Training Colleges to Colleges of Education came with it certain challenges that had implications for the government, principals and tutors, administrative staff, parents and guardians, as well as students.
He said colleges of education as they existed currently required the injection of enough financial resources for the provision of the requisite and improved infrastructure in the areas of lecture theatres, residential laboratories, libraries, ICT facilities and administration blocks, as well as improvement in the supply of tools and equipment.
He said the challenges envisaged in this transitional period were not unsurmountable, pointing out that with visionary leadership, the intended objectives for establishing the colleges would be achieved.
He urged the graduates to be pro-active to promote child-centred teaching and activity-based learning in their classrooms.
“Our children must be encouraged to be creative and innovative through the use of inquisitive enquiry minds for future growth and development,” Prof. Kuupole added.
He urged them to continually develop and design appropriate intervention strategies that would help reduce the challenges that they may come across in their profession, adding “hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”
Principal
In his welcome address, the Principal of the college, Mr Lloyd Alexander Djangmah, said the objective of the college was to create an excellent teaching and learning environment with opportunities for training quality teachers with emphasis on knowledge skill, attitude and values for quality education and human resource development.
He appealed to well meaning and public spirited persons to come to the school’s aid for the construction of a hostel for male students.
Mr Djangmah emphasised that teachers had a moral obligation to give back to society and support national human capital formation efforts by assiduously coaching and mentoring their students to reach their goals.
Graduates
Out of the total number of graduates, six obtained first class honours, 65 received second class upper division, 107 scored second class lower division, while 83 obtained third class, with five passes.
Miss Dora Donkor was adjudged the overall best student.