Accra (Greater Accra) 23 March ’99
Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Education, on Monday said Teacher Training Colleges (TTC) in the country will soon be made diploma awarding institutions. This will encourage more people into the teaching profession to ensure that the human resources of the country get better education at the basic levels. At a meeting in Accra with the executive of the Conference of Principals of Teacher Training Colleges (COPTTC), Mr Spio-Garbrah said when the institutions are raised to tertiary level, parents and students must be made aware of the implications. Mr Spio-Garbrah explained that teaching allowances being enjoyed by students, at the moment, will no more be there. “They will be treated as any other tertiary institution in the country and the cost sharing policy will also be introduced”. Issues raised at the meeting included students allowances, the teaching of Ghanaian languages, staff accommodation, female intake and upward review of responsibility allowances to principals and other heads of institutions. Mr Spio-Garbrah said his ministry has placed an embargo on the establishment of new teacher training colleges. “It is impossible at the moment to build new dormitories let alone colleges, and we don’t want to over-stretch the budget allocated to the ministry”. At the moment, expansion of schools will be an economic constraint to the national budget. ”There is the need to finish the existing building projects and infrastructure in the various educational institutions for effective teaching and learning”. Mr Spio-Garbrah was not happy about the situation whereby qualified students for the teaching profession are discarded and warned principals who are in the habit of extorting money before admission, to be careful because the ministry will soon take measures against them. Ms Hienne Obeng, President of COPTTC, explained that genuine lists are sometimes discarded not because of money but ”due to pressure from protocol lists”. He called on the Minister to use his good offices to educate the public to refrain from such habits since “this is creating problems for us”. Mr Kwabena Kyere, a Deputy Minister of Education, stressed the need for constant monitoring and evaluation of existing school projects to ensure early completion. “Some of these works take 10 or 20 years before they are completed”, he said, adding ” they are shoddy work and criminal negligence” and asked heads of educational institutions to take interest in what is happening at their various schools.
