Work progresses on staff accommodation for Kibi Presbyterian College of Education

Work is progressing on the construction of a one-storey 10-unit block of flats for the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education in the Eastern Region, to help ease staff accommodation problems facing the college.

According to the Principal of the college, Rev. B. Nkansa-Kyeremanteng, the project, being funded by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), was almost complete.

The principal made the statement at the eighth congregation of the college, during which 193 students of the college graduated at a ceremony at Kyebi.

The ceremony saw Mr Francis Akuma, who was the only student to obtain First Class, being adjudged the overall best student.

Rev. Nkansa-Kyeremanteng said the college was fulfilling its mission of providing quality teaching and learning of Arts and Science-based subjects and training disciplined teachers with high academic and professional competencies required for effective teaching in basic schools.

New status

He said in the light of this, “our staff continue to upgrade themselves to meet the demands placed on them by our new status as a tertiary institution”.

He added that “two of our staff are pursuing PhD programmes and many more have completed their master’s degrees, while others are at various levels of completing their master’s programmes”.

Rev. Nkansa-Kyeremanteng said as a measure for the college to position itself to meet the standard of a tertiary institution, a number of facilities, including the office of the principal and his residence, had been refurbished while local communication network of offices and bungalows of staff had been extended, which has gone a long way to help in improving upon communication among staff.

He said the college, in partnership with Idlewild Presbyterian Church, Memphis, in the United States, had started the production of treated water for staff and students, and added that the collaboration had also gone a long way to reduce cases of typhoid and cholera at the college.

Challenges

He mentioned inadequate means of transportation which was affecting teaching practice of the college, and inadequate lecture halls and classrooms as some of the challenges facing the college and, therefore, called on the government, individuals and organisations to come to the aid of the college.

The Chairman of the Governing Council of the College, Rev. Prof. Cephas Omenyo, urged the graduates to be worthy ambassadors of the college and encouraged them to climb the academic ladder higher.

He commended the staff of the college for their commitment and dedication to duty and expressed the hope that more quality teachers would continuously be produced by the college.

The Dean of the School of Physical Sciences of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. David Kofi Essuman, called on school authorities not to dump weak students in one class, and explained that putting good students in one class did not promote effective teaching and learning.