He said BATCO has over the years produced excellent teachers who have championed the development of education in the three Northern Regions in particular and Ghana in general.
Dr. Gomda however observed that, the college has experienced an exponential growth in the student population without a corresponding expansion of her infrastructure.
According to him, lecturers and students still dwell in buildings put up in the 1940s, saying “accommodation for lecturers and students is a big problem that needs to be looked into. Our road network is not only poor; the roads themselves are not tarred”, he stressed.
He described the college also as a thorough fare, with outlets everywhere and thus posing security problems on campus; it has neither an auditorium nor administration block and this thereby, compel students and lecturers alike to hold meetings and morning worship in the open space. Other things the College needs include a fence wall, bus, hostel for female students, he added.
Dr. Yahuza Gomda who was speaking at the second congregation of BATCO in Tamale, said the college requires a special attention in respect of infrastructural development.
The Governing Council Chairman of the Bagaba College of Education further called on government and for that matter parliament, to endeavour to fast track the passage of the bill on training colleges to enable them migrate fully into tertiary institutions.
In his address, Principal of BATCO, Alhaji Adam Zakaria, disclosed that two hundred and twenty-eight (228) students out of two hundred and eighty students (280) admitted into the college three (3) years ago successfully completed the programme and awarded diplomas according to their respective classes of distinction by the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
He said seven (7) students received Second Class Honours, Diploma in the Upper Division, Sixty-three (63) students awarded Second Class Honours, Diploma in the Lower Division, One hundred and thirty-six (136) received Third Class while Twenty-two students qualified for award of Pass.
However, the rest of the 52 students who were admitted but unaccounted for on the award list, he said, few of them left the college unceremoniously before the end of the three years; some failed to meet the academic criteria set by UCC for continuing the programme and were therefore advised to withdraw whiles the rest completed the programme but had referred courses to clear before they qualify for the award of any certificate.
Currently with a student population of 830 (25.42% or 211 female and 619 or 74.55% male and total staff strength of ninety-six (96), BATCO was originally established in 1944 with the purpose of training standard seven leavers within a two year period to qualify as professional certificate ‘B’ teachers.
The first 16 students fulfilled this objective in 1946. The two most distinguished products from that group, Mr. Abayifa Karbo and Mr. E.A Mahama, both parents of New Patriotic Party National Youth Organiser, Anthony Abayifa Karbo and H.E John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Ghana and member of the ruling National Democratic Congress, were enrolled for another two years after a year of practice in the classroom and were the first two products of this College to obtain the Teachers’ Certificate ‘A’ in 1949.
The Bagabaga College of Education has six departments namely; Education Studies, Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, Languages and Technical Skills. Apart from the Social Studies programme run by all the Colleges of Education in Ghana, BATCO is one of the ten Colleges offering the Technical Skills programme. It is also one of the three Colleges offering French programme.
No comments:
Post a Comment