Accra, Sept. 29, GNA- Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, has charged the Governing Councils of Colleges of Education to take keen interest in teaching activities at the Colleges to ensure quality learning outcomes.
The Minister advised the Governing Councils to focus on the mission and vision of the Colleges to improve quality teaching and learning and not only administrative duties and issues of promotion and allowances of members.
Dr Adutwum gave the advice at the inauguration of 13 Governing Councils of Colleges of Education in Accra on Thursday.
The Minister administered the oath of office and oath of secrecy to the Council members with the mandate to offer strategic direction in managing the affairs of the Colleges.
The Minister has so far inaugurated 39 Governing Councils of Colleges of Education out of the 46 across the country.
Dr Adutwum urged the Governing Councils to avoid trivial issues such as prescribing uniforms for teacher trainees and instead focus on empowering them with new teaching and learning modules for better outcomes.
He charged the Governing Councils to produce teacher trainees with creative abilities to meet 21st century learning environment.
That, the Minister stated would help produce a competitive workforce to meet the changing needs of education.
Dr Adutwum, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe, urged the leadership of the Colleges to create an empowered learning environment for effective teacher-student relationships to build confidence and improve academic excellence.
Dr Adutwum emphasized the need for the trainees to have a voice in the teaching and learning environment by meaningfully participating in the discourse of teaching activities and being empowered to ask questions without intimidation.
“We need to train our teacher trainees to go beyond memorisation of lesson notes and focus on being assertive in creating modules for the transformation of the country,” he said.
He said the Colleges of Education played a critical role in the transformation of the country’s educational system and charged them to leave a legacy by transforming the trainees into productive and meaningful members of society.
“Your institutions should have a unique selling advantage that will attract students to your Colleges. You need to add value to your Colleges to transform education to be fit for purpose,” he said.
The Minister said the country had built six state-of-the art science laboratories and was transforming other institutions into STEM schools to produce students and graduates who would be fit for purpose.
Most Reverend Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, Chairman, Mount Mary College of Education, commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the confidence reposed in members of the Councils and pledged their commitment to work to achieve their mandates.
The Board is made up of representatives of the various stakeholders, including the Ghana Education Service, Alumni, Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, government nominees, academic affairs, National Teaching Council, and Students’ Representative Council.
The Colleges are Tumu College of Education, Gbewaa College of Education, Mount Mary College of Education, Presbyterian Women’s College of Education, Oda Methodist College of Education, and Mampong Technical College of Education.
The rest are: Enchi College of Education, St Theresa College of Education, E.P. Amedzofe College of Education, Offinso College of Education, McCoy College of Education, Bimbilla Evangelical Presbyterian College of Education, and Jasikan College of Education.
Source: Ghana News Agency