Two colleges cut admission due to inadequate infrastructure
The Tamale College of Education (TACE) was able to admit 558 students for the 2015/2016 academic year out of a total of 1,239 who applied for admission to pursue the three-year Diploma programme in Basic Education.
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Those who gained admission are made up of 355 males and 206 females.
The Principal of the college, Alhaji Dr Sulemana Iddrisu, who announced this, explained that the inability of the college to absorb more qualified applicants was due to constraint of space and human resources.
He, however, expressed the hope that when the college's infrastructure base improved, it would be able to admit more qualified applicants in the future.
Dr Iddrisu was addressing the seventh matriculation ceremony of the college held at the college's assembly hall in Tamale.
Count yourself lucky
He told the students who had been admitted to count themselves lucky and urged them to study hard to justify the investment of their parents.
"Dedicate yourselves to your studies. Stay focused, strive for the best, eschew acts of indiscipline; indiscipline will not only work against your progress as individuals but your future as well," he advised the students.
Dr Iddrisu urged the students to guard against negative practices such as the peddling and using of hard drugs, 'Sakawa’ (Internet fraud) and asked them to be responsible in their sex life since AIDS was real.
In a related development, the Enchi College of Education (ENCHICO) in the Aowin District in the Western Region has admitted 300 students, made up of 187 men and 113 women for the 2015/2016 academic year to pursue teacher training programmes for basic schools, reports Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah at ENCHI.
The authorities received a total of 1,000 applications for the year but owing to inadequate academic and accommodation facilities, the college, established about 50 years ago, could only offer admission to less than half of the applicants.
Introduction of French
Speaking at the matriculation ceremony, the Principal of ENCHICO, Madam Victoria Aidoo, announced the introduction of French as a new programme in addition to other languages, such as Akuapim and Asante Twi.
She disclosed that 29 of the students, made up of 16 women and 13 men were admitted to undertake the French programme as an elective.
‘‘As we admit you as junior members of the college, you must count yourselves as blessed and fortunate because many wanted this golden opportunity but never got it. Your prime objective of being here is to pursue a course of study and nothing should derail you from this track,” the principal told them.
Madam Aidoo also advised the students to set themselves high academic and moral standards, remain focused and let there be no limit to their dreams, adding, ‘‘Work diligently towards the achievement of lifelong dreams, capable of sustaining you, your families and the nation as a whole.’’
She said the nation was constrained by inadequate human resource and so they should not relent in their efforts to achieve the national goal of building a solid educational foundation for the overall development of the country.
Government’s agenda
In a speech read for him, the District Chief Executive Ofori Larbi, indicated that the provision of teachers for basic schools in the country had been and continues to be a crucial element in the government’s agenda.
He said as a way of meeting the demand-driven nature of the high number of teachers for the basic schools, colleges of education had been mandated by the government to increase their intake, adding that that situation had, therefore, paved the way for more students to be admitted by the colleges.
Mr Larbi commended the college authorities for their foresight to introduce French with the view to train teachers for the basic schools in the country, especially those in the catchment area, so that pupils could learn French.
