The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, has affirmed the University’s commitment to ensure a holistic growth of Colleges of Education in Ghana. Prof. Ampiah noted that UCC would not renege on its responsibility as mentors of the Colleges but provide the necessary assistance to help the colleges achieve their mandate of producing quality teachers for the basic schools in the country. The Vice-Chancellor made these statements at the signing of Affiliation Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UCC and two Colleges of Education. The colleges were Al-faruk College of Education, Wenchi and St. Vincent College of Education, Yendi. Prof Ampiah said the decision by the two institutions to enter into agreement with UCC was an indication that they were committed to the collaboration. He said the Affiliation Agreement and MoU would bind each of the partners to live up to expectation. “We need to be each other’s keeper so that when we go wrong, you draw our attention for the right thing to be done and in the same way we will let you know if you are not on the right path,” he added. As part of the mentorship arrangement, Prof Ampiah said UCC would continue to build the capacity of the different categories of staff of the Colleges, saying “we promise to do our best to help your tutors to upgrade themselves and also build their capacities in the area of research, proposal writing and publication.” The Director of the Institute of Education, Prof. Frederick Ocansey, noted that 47 Colleges of Education including 44 public and three private were currently affiliated to UCC. He also assured the two colleges that UCC with its vast experience in mentoring would support them to deliver on their mandate, On behalf of Al-Faruk College of Education, the Principal, Mr. Wahab Sualibu, expressed gratitude to the management of UCC for accepting the College as an affiliate. He said the primary focus of the College was to train competent Arabic teachers for Arabic basic schools in the country since most of the teachers who handle Arabic in those schools lacked formal education. He seized the opportunity to thank the Director of the Institute of Education and some lecturers at the Institute for lending a helping hand even before the signing ceremony. The Principal of St. Vincent College of Education, Dr. Erasmus K. Norriewu-Mortty, described the ceremony as a memorable one adding that “without UCC we will not have been where we are”. He was hopeful that there were better days ahead for the two institutions. He asked for support in terms of research to enable the tutors develop their skills to write quality articles for publication in local and international journals.
