By Samuel Ackon
Assin Foso (C/R), Aug. 9, GNA – The Foso College of Education (FOSCO) has held its 14th graduation for the second batch of the four-year Bachelor of Education programme to usher 371 teacher trainees into the teaching profession.
Twenty-six of the graduates obtained first class, 221 had second class honours (upper division), 107 second class honours (lower division), and the rest had third class.
Dr Anthony Baabereyir, the Principal of the College, said it was established to train quality educators to contribute their quota to the development of the nation.
The college, with a population of 1,600 students and 130 staff, had produced hundreds of intelligent teachers who were both compassionate and knowledgeable in their areas of specialisation, he said.
On challenges facing the college, he mentioned inadequate funding to invest in existing and new facilities, inadequate classrooms, science and ICT laboratories, library facilities and staff bungalows.
In addition, some infrastructures needed to be modernised to catch up with contemporary education.
Dr Baabereyir appealed to stakeholders, government and individuals to support the college with equipment, partnership, volunteerism and finance.
He charged the new teachers to continue to exhibit characters worthy of emulation and discharge their duties with dedication to the development of the nation.
The overall best male graduate, Mr Daniel Aidoo, was awarded a cash price of GH¢2,000 and the overall best female, Mrs Cecilia Abbie, had GH¢1,000.00
The Foso College of Education was established as Foso Training College in 1965 by the first republican government of Dr Kwame Nkrumah with a mandate to train teachers for basic schools in Ghana.
The Colleges of Education Act 2012 (ACT 847) was passed by Parliament to upgrade existing public Teacher Training Colleges to College of Education to offer programmes leading to the award of a Diploma in Basic Education.
In September 2018, Foso College of Education joined other colleges of education in the country to introduce the new four-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) programme.
GNA