The Gbewaa College of Education, Pusiga, has inducted its new Principal, Dr. Halidu Musah.
Speaking at the Induction Ceremony and 7th Congregation which was themed “Improving Learning Outcomes In The 21st Century: The Relevance of the Licensed Teacher” held earlier this month, Dr. Musah stated that his vision as the new Prinicipal of the College would encompass the development of the college’s various aspects to elevate the college’s standards.
“My vision spans from human resource development, capacity building, infrastructure development, environmental protection and student discipline and academic excellence.”
He also revealed the introduction of consultants and some organizations to train the college’s staff with the aim of improving human resources and increasing capacity building.
“In relation to human resource development and capacity building, we are currently transitioning from diploma-producing institutions into degree-producing institutions. This means we must prepare to become fully tertiary. We first focused on upgrading all staff to have tertiary degrees, which we are doing very vigorously. Secondly, as staff of the university, we look at how they can get promoted. In a tertiary institution, the only thing that counts for your promotion is publication, so we have started building [the students’] capacity for publication. I have also brought in a number of professors and a number of institutions to train them, to enable them to research properly and then publish in reputable journals.”
The newly inducted prinicipal further reassured members of the college by enclosing the whole campus to ensure that the issue of security was dealt with.
“On the issue of security, we are in an environment where security is a big problem because of the conflict. People are afraid of coming to Gbewa because it is seen as a conflict zone. We have therefore embarked on securing the campus because National Security, the police, and the BNI have stated that they cannot patrol the campus because it is not enclosed. So we have embarked on a serious community relations campaign to ensure that we get the opportunity to wall the whole campus. We have had to undertake very serious work in terms of linking, coordinating, and ensuring that we get this wall done.”
Also present at both ceremonies, Provost of the College of Education, Professor Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe called on the newly inducted Principal of the Gbewaa College of Education to invest more into research to raise the standards of the college.
“One area I want them to concentrate on is their research, the research aspect of their work. Some of the applications we have received from the colleges are not so strong, and if you look at the publication outlets, those are not the ones that meet our standards, so I want him to concentrate on the research angle.”
The Provost also revealed that his college would be organizing writing workshops, setting up college research committees and establishing a Centre for Educational Research and surveillance sites for research across the country to assist the Gbewaa College of Education and other mentoring institutions of the college.
“On our side as a college, we are trying to assist them. We have plans to organize writing and publication workshops. I have additionally requested that all the colleges establish research committees. We are also in the process of establishing a Centre for Education and Research and establishing surveillance sites for research across the country, among some of the key activities we want to undertake. So we are going to heavily involve our mentoring institutions, including the Gbewaa College of Education, and I believe that together with the principal and the entire staff, we can be able to improve research and therefore their publication outlets, which eventually would impact their promotions.”
The Induction of the Newly Inducted Principal of the Gbewaa College of Education took place on Friday, 11th August, 2023. The 7th Congregation which was held on August 12th, 2023 witnessed the graduation of its first batch of Bachelor of Education degree students, who were also the last batch to be awarded certificates by the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
The Gbewaa College of Education which was formally mentored by the University of Cape Coast UCC is currently mentored by the University of Ghana’s College of Education.
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Story by | Kuuku Osei Baidoo | univers.ug.edu.gh
