TEACHER TRAINING MATRICULATE AT HOHOE (PAGE 20)

Story: Emmanuel Modey, Hohoe

TEACHER trainees who are the first batch of the Diploma in Education programme have matriculated at the Saint Francis College of Education at Hohoe.
The three-year Diploma in Education programme has replaced the Certificate ‘A’ post-secondary teacher training course.
The 630 students, admitted since the inception of the programme three years ago, were matriculated by the Catholic Bishop of the Ho Diocese, the Right Reverend Francis A.K. Lodonu.
Bishop Lodonu did not mince words when he told the students not to look down on their profession because graduates from the universities also taught.
“You should drop the ‘I don’t want to be a teacher’ syndrome and do what you have learnt properly as your profession,” he stressed.
Bishop Lodonu wondered why “the big men” who should do something about the educational system had sent their children to schools outside the country.
“Currently, there is shortage of teachers in the country, so don’t shy away from your profession,” he stressed, adding that the transformation of the country was in their hands, so they must accept and be proud of the profession.
A lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Norbert Kofi Nti, who is the Board Chairman of the college, urged the students to maintain a high sense of discipline and professionalism in order to impart good morals to the children they would handle.
In his welcoming address, the Principal of the college, Mr Dennis Agbenuvor, was grateful to the government for upgrading the institution and also providing it with additional infrastructure.
He said the institution was one of the 15 training colleges in the country that had been upgraded to diploma-awarding institutions.
In a related development, 305 students, comprising first and second-year teacher trainees of the Diploma in Education programme, were matriculated at the St Theresa’s College of Education, Hohoe in the Volta Region.
The matriculation rites were performed by the Catholic Bishop of the Ho Diocese, the Rt Rev Francis Lodonu.
The Principal of the college, Ms Josephine Rita Yempew, commended the government for its commitment to supporting quality education in the country through the provision of infrastructure and logistics such as modern libraries and vehicles.