Ghana: IMANI releases position on the proposed 10 new Colleges of Education

[photo; Executive Director, IMANI courtesy Atlas Research Institute, United States]

The Forum for Education Reform (FFER), under the auspices of IMANI-GHANA is group of eminent Ghanaians, educationists, leaders of industry, business people and researchers, wishes to share its concerns and present alternative solutions to the state of quality and output of the 38 Colleges of Education in the country. The Forum’s concerns are in relation to the Government of Ghana’s plans to establish ten (10) new Colleges of Education as one of its policies to advance education in the country. The Forum considers that a more cost effective and efficient way for government to achieve its laudable objective of improving teacher education lies in the expansion and improvement of current facilities within the existing 38 colleges. This would expand capacity and improve quality with less public expenditure.

Despite the existing colleges being recently upgraded to tertiary status, there are still persistent issues with quality. The need to improve the quality of output of the Colleges is clear. This can be achieved by improving the facilities, updating the quality of instruction, infusing technology, updating the teaching methods and models, amongst others. These developments would result in better output from the teacher training institutions.

While the Forum commends Government for noting the crisis facing teacher training in Ghana and subsequently taking steps to improve that sector, our stance on this initiative is thus:

·       The government should not pursue its current goal to establish ten new tertiary institutions.

·       It must instead invest in the existing institutions and expand their facilities in order to the improve quality of output.

·       Currently, the colleges of education have an average enrolment of about 400 students. Their enrolment can easily be doubled without much expansion in the existing facilities to cover what the proposed ten new institutions would provide.

·       There is an urgent need to evaluate and establish firmly where these colleges fit vis-à-vis Universities. Curriculum development must meet global standards.

·       There is a believable perception across the political divide that an overhaul of the current teacher training system is necessary to preserve and enhance the nation’s best asset, which is human resource. The consequence of neglect of this area will severely undermine the country’s development. 

·       The nexus between appropriate investments in education and economic development is firmly established. The challenge is determining the right areas where such investments ought to be made. The Forum wishes to see and support something definite and constructive done about education as a whole including teacher education.

The Forum for Education Reform is prepared to work with government and like-minded organizations to attain the right standards for teacher training in Ghana.

This release is our invitation to discuss and develop the best approach towards education reform for Ghana.

The Forum can be reached by telephone at 030-297-2939, and at educationforum@imanighana.org,

educationforumgh@gmail.com and its membership is listed below.

Signed: