The Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) has appealed to government to help construct more buildings and complete stalled projects in the school to ease the infrastructural deficit.
Professor Kwaku Adutwum Ayim Boakye, Vice Chancellor of the school, said students accommodation, in particular, was a grave challenge, which management was exploring all means legal to help resolve the situation.
He made the appeal at the university’s 20th congregation where 1,130 students graduated.
Of the number, 262 graduated with Bachelor of Technology, 629 with Higher National Diploma (HND) and 239 at the Diploma level.
The 20th congregation is also a significant feature of the school’s recently launched 40th anniversary.
‘Our target is to double the available bed space within the next year. The least said about the stalled GETFund projects such as the commercial block and the auditorium, the better.
‘We appeal to the government to intervene quickly to complete our efforts at closing the infrastructure gap,’ he said.
P
rof Boakye said as part of efforts to improve on the infrastructure situation, the school had earmarked 10 large classrooms and 30 offices for complete refurbishment and retooling under phase one of its rehabilitation and refurbishment project.
He said the school in 2023, procured 110 new computers to facilitate teaching, learning and administrative work.
‘Work is progressing smoothly on the automation of the University’s library. The project which is 90 per cent done is to be completed by the end of March this year,’ he said.
The Vice Chancellor applauded the six schools of the university for their creditable performance in research, teaching and community services and highlighted further efforts to position the institution among the best globally.
He said university currently ran 70 academic programmes duly accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).
It had also introduced seven new programmes in the 2023/2024 academic year including M. Tech in Construction Technology and Management,
B. Tech in Virtualisation and Cloud Computing, Bachelor of Arts in Information Science and B. Tech in Industrial Arts and Design, he added.
‘The year under review also saw some senior members promoted to both teaching and administrative ranks,’ he said.
Prof Boakye disclosed that CCTU entered into some international and local partnerships to further its mandate as the leader in renewable energy.
‘We have signed various agreements with international partners in Europe and America and under such programmes, three staff and over 20 students are expected to visit various partner universities in the coming year,’ he said.
He said they were working to boost their internally generated funds by operationalising some key commercial centres.
This include the AVIC Centre, (an international holding corporation) was fully operational and had already serviced almost 100 cars, adding that no vehicle belonging to the university had been serviced outside since January 6, this year.
‘Soon to be rolled out under a similar
structure will be the university’s restaurant, bindery, metal fabrication centre, basic school, clinic and greenhouse,’ he added.
Touting some of their achievements, he said the CCTU Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC) had revamped its solar power tricycle with a new lithium iron phosphate battery to improve the range from about five kilometres to 130 kilometres.
He said the centre had also designed and installed Central Region’s first electronic charging hub and was ready to partner government and the private sector to set up charging hubs for electric vehicles.
‘The department of food science and post-harvest technology has successfully developed Ghana’s first ever sanitary pad made of bamboo. We are in the process of patenting the prototype for further production,’ he revealed.
‘Over the period, the university won grants and donations worth approximately three million Ghanaian Cedis,’ the VC announced.
The Vice Chancellor challenged the fresh graduates to be unique and committed to make a
difference in the society.
He admonished them to embrace challenges for their personal and professional growth, stressing that life would only give them what they worked for and nor what deserved.
‘Don’t be discouraged when you face challenges but rise up and forge ahead.
‘Seek to serve and not to be served, never stop learning and always be grateful for the little things in life,’ he advised.
Source: Ghana News Agency
The quality of education in 135 targeted Sub-Counties in Kenya significantly improved in the last six years, thanks to the ministry of education through a World Bank funded project.
The Kenya Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP) targeted 135 Sub-counties from 30 Counties which were identified through a rigorous selection criterion resulting to improved quality of teaching among other milestones from 2017 to December 2023.
The key milestones as enumerated by Mr. Elijah Mungai, the Director Directorate of Projects coordination and delivery in the state department for basic education include reduction in teacher shortage for Science, Mathematics and English teachers in targeted areas which was implemented by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) where 2,592 secondary and 920 primary school teachers were employed.
Director Mungai said the intervention saw live streaming of lessons piloted in 10 satellite schools from two principal schools. Teachers professional development was enhanced throu
gh school based teacher support system for teachers totaling 51,950 in 6,500 primary schools and 2,000 secondary schools.
A total of 2,254,782 Science, Mathematics and English text books were distributed to all grade 7 and 8 learners in 7,852 primary schools while 4,329,057 Science, Mathematics and English text books were distributed to learners in form 1-4 in 2,147 secondary schools. Brailed text books 10,770 in total and 42,546 text books printed and distributed and assistive devices distributed to 2,145 learners with disabilities.
Retention in upper primary school and transition to secondary school in targeted areas improved school learning environment where 1,053 additional classrooms, 861 additional laboratories and 1,896 sanitation facilities and a proposed ultra-modern training facility at CEMASTEA.
The Ministry of Education conducted advocacy and community mobilization social support and gender sensitization programme in 1,476 locations across the 135 Sub-Counties with 1,478,135 sanitary towels for
girls being distributed.
A total of 18,000 learners in cohorts of 9,000 each benefited from the Elimu Scholarship Program where the first cohort sat for KCSE in 2023 and recorded an impressive performance with 46 percent qualifying to join university and 82 percent attaining grade C-(minus) and above.
The project enforced systems reforms support through the development and introduction of CBC curriculum designs for Grades 4 to 9 as implemented by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
SEQIP strengthened the national system for monitoring learning progress and national examination by Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) through a baseline and middleline studies to monitor learner achievement (MLA) for form 2 and national assessments for grades 3,4,5, and 6 conducted as well the establishment of a web based competency based assessment (CBA) portal.
The Ministry of Education carried out three policy studies to establish prevalence of gender based sexual violence (GBSV) which resulted to a
policy framework for addressing GBSV issues. Education officials were sensitized on operationalization of gender responsive mechanisms (GRM) structures.
A baseline survey for high dropout rates for upper primary grades 7 and 8 and a capacity assessment for Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF) to coordinate, manage and regulate scholarships were conducted.
The World Bank has since extended the SEQIP project period for an additional year till December 2024 owing to the delays occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Source: Kenya News Agency