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Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, the Minister of Education has inaugurated seven Governing Councils of Colleges of Education, at a brief ceremony in Accra.

The seven Councils, who constitute important decision making bodies in their respective Colleges, would add up to 28 similar institutions that were inaugurated by the Minister in 2015, to ensure quality, efficiency and effectiveness in all the institutions.

Prof. Opoku-Agyeman, led the Members who were made up of both teaching and non-teaching staff of the various institutions, to swear the Oath of Office as well as the Oath of Secrecy.

She expressed the appreciation of government to them for their show of commitment and the quest to serve their country, and also acknowledged the immense contributions of all past members of Councils, especially to the immediate past executives.

She challenged the new Councils to adopt the right approaches and practical interventions aimed at achieving excellence in the various Colleges of Education.

The Councils she said were to ensure that the Colleges of Education trained students to acquire the necessary professional and academic competencies for teaching in pre-tertiary institutions and non-formal educational institutions, and to build the professional and academic capacities of serving teachers through regular continuing education.

They were also to comply with functions stated in the Colleges of Education Act (ACT 847) of 2012, which requires among other things, the approval of the educational programmes developed by the academic board having regard to the mandate of the college.

They were to oversee to the internal organization of the College of education which includes the establishment, variation and supervision of academic divisions, departments and faculties of the College; prescribe the terms and conditions for the admission of persons selected for a course of study organized by the college, as well as institute awards, fellowships and scholarship schemes in furtherance of the aims of the institution.

The Governing Councils were also required to comply with the rules on managing the finances and fixed assets of the Colleges, and to consider and approve annual estimates of income and expenditure of the institutions among other things.

Prof. Opoku-Agyeman, however tasked the Councils to support government’s efforts in addressing challenges in the Colleges, citing current complaints about infrastructure-related issues and how some contractors have abandoned on-going projects, as well as issues relating to staffing, difficulties in getting committed mentoring institutions at the Colleges.

“Whilst we take steps to address these issues, Council is also requested to play its supervisory role effectively to ensure the right collaboration between the Colleges and the Ministry”, she said.

According to her the complex role of the facilitator of education, which was the teacher, was fundamental to all education processes, and equally important were the non-teaching staff who play critical roles in quality education delivery.

She said both need to work together in maintaining and improving the general conditions of the Colleges of Education to enable them to perform efficiently.

Prof Opoku-Agyeman said government has initiated various programmes all aimed at improving the quality of education, citing the four-year Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) Project, which was launched early this year with support from UKAid.

She further expressed her appreciation to the National Teaching Council for organizing a consultative workshop on a draft Pre-Service Teacher Standards for the Colleges and Universities of Education, which was developed with support from the T-TEL project.

“The new policy framework, called Pre-Tertiary Teacher Professional Development and management provides the framework for all of us to work to improve the way in which we train our teachers and support them to progress in their careers into the future”, she said.

She said the programme implementers has since been working with government initiatives and supporting at least 35,000 teachers nation-wide, and building strong relationships with stakeholders.

The T-TEL programme, has since its launch produced significant results, having distributed more than 20,000 teaching and learning materials and also organized over 20 training workshops, she said.