The education minister in a hearty chat with some officials of St Louis College of Education
GOVERNMENT HAS launched a staggering Gh¢4.6 million Transition Support Fund for the 46 public Colleges of Education in the country.
The laudable move is among other things, geared towards giving a financial cushion to the colleges of education to deliver on their mandate of training quality tutors.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, launching the fund, stated that “it is aimed, mainly, to make you a better teacher for mother Ghana”.
He was speaking during the 15th annual Graduation Ceremony of the St. Louis College of Education in Kumasi, in the Ashanti region, on Friday.
Dr. Opoku Prempeh popularly known as ‘Napo’ said the colleges of education in the country would access the funds for professional upgrading and development.
He also explained that the fund seeks to upgrade the qualifications of teaching and non-teaching staff in the various colleges, thereby leading to efficiency.
“The fund will help to support the Ministry of Education’s ongoing efforts to ensure that all tutors have at least a Masters Research Degree by 2022”, he remarked.
“The fund is an investment the ministry is making with the assistance of UK aid through the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning in Ghana Programme”, he added.
Napo stated that the colleges of education needed to meet some standards before they could access the fund, saying “there will be no partial payment for failure”.
Napo also justified government’s decision to embark on rigorous reforms in the education sector, saying statistics about Ghana’s education for three decades was appalling.
According to him, the creme-de-la-creme in the academia had been assembled to make the necessary reforms in the educational sector to benefit the country.
The minister pointed out that the various reforms in the educational sector had nothing to do with partisan politics, saying the reforms were in the interest of the country.
Napo also said Professional Examination for Teachers in the country is intended to protect the image of the noble teaching profession so all should support it.
The event was under the theme ‘Equipping Teacher Trainees with Professional Attitudes, Values, Knowledge and Practice to be Agents of Societal Transformation’.
Napo entreated the fresh graduates to be discipline, hardworking and punctual at work at all times so they can train the youth to become useful to the state in future.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi