Government says it has become very crucial for emphasis to be placed on early grade and early childhood teaching as part of its educational reforms to improve the quality of learning outcomes in the country.
According to the Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, there is inadequate early childhood and early grade teachers in the country hence government’s resolve to place premium on the training of more of such teachers.
Addressing newly trained teachers at the Ola College of Education in Cape Coast, the minister assured all teachers who specialize in early grade education automatic absorption by the GES.
Mathew Opoku Prempeh indicated the formative years of children in the country would suffer greatly if something urgent is not done to shore up the numbers of teachers who have the requisite qualifications to teach at such levels in the country.
“The formative years of children is very critical and as a result of the dearth of teachers in that area, government is working on getting more people in that field too handle our children.”
“Our current problem as a country is that we don’t have enough early grade teachers in the country. We are thus putting more emphasis on early childhood and early grade teachers,” he stated.
The minister says, government sees that as a priority and is working to get teachers in that field to meet the national demands.
“All qualified teachers in early grade and early childhood would be absorbed automatically by the GES,” he assured.
The OLA college of Education is the only female college of education in the country that specializes in the training of early grade teachers as well as Science and Mathematics. The college, however, lacks the needed science infrastructure to train more of the teachers.
Principal of the OLA college of Education, Rev. Sis. Elizabeth Amoako-Arhen enumerated some of the challenges bedevilling the college and appealed for support.
She mentioned the abandoned science laboratory, library and another facility that have stalled for over a decade.
The Education Minister promised the science laboratory and two other projects that have stalled for more than a decade would be completed by GET fund.
He celebrated the overall best student, Mavis Owusu Gyamfi for being the best in Science and Mathematics and announced a scholarship package for the newly trained teacher.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Joseph Ampiah-Ghartey indicated the University of Cape Coast, the Ola College of Education fall under, will do more to improve teacher education in the country.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education Minister