The principal of the Komenda College of Education (KOMENCO), Very Reverend Prof. Kwesi Nkum Wilson, has made passionate appeals to the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to allow Colleges of Education in the country to increase the intake of qualified trainee teachers during the admission of fresh students.
Professor Kwesi Nkum Wilson delivered the speech during KOMENCO’s 15th Congregation in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality of the Central Region. The event was under the theme “Sustaining Excellence In Teacher Education: Addressing Infrastructure Challenges”.
Addressing the graduands and the multitude present during the graduation ceremony at the Robert Mensah Complex Hall of the college, Very Reverend Prof. Kwesi Nkum Wilson, disclosed that this year’s batch performed better than those in the previous academic year, hoping that future academic results would surpass the present.
The current graduating trainee teachers, according to Professor Kwesi Nkum Wilson, performed beyond expectation, obtaining an overall hundred per cent pass rate in the final exams – 189 of students passed with First Class, 308 obtained Second Class Upper, 87 came out with Lower Class division, whilst the remaining six had third class passes. In all, none performed poorly.
The principal announced that KOMENCO had successfully received accreditation from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), elevating it to a tertiary level. He said the college met all the criteria to qualify as a tertiary institution.
Professor Kwesi Nkum Wilson assured the gathering that the college has plans to organise capacity building and refresher courses for its staff, and motivate them in readiness for the tasks ahead.
He listed the completion and commissioning of a 12-unit market structure by the college’s SRC, and an eight-unit modern toilet facility by KOSA 2000, as some successful infrastructural developments on campus.
He hinted that plans are far advanced to commence the construction of a 25-thousand capacity Chapel Auditorium, dubbed Creedy Chapel Auditorium at the college.
Very Reverend Prof Kwesi Nkum Wilson praised a member of the KOSA 2000, Edwin Arthur, for single-handedly supporting the project with two thousand five hundred (2,500) bags of cement.
The principal repeated an appeal he made at KOMENCO’s 13th congregation, that the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), the Ghana Education Service, and the Ministry of Education make the study of Ghanaian languages, music, and physical education compulsory subjects in all colleges of education in the country. This, he explained, will help realise the expected holistic education in the country.
He said that although several qualified prospective students apply to train as teachers, the colleges end up admitting fewer due to limited lodging and lecture facilities, noting that the Komenda College of Education alone received applications from three thousand eight hundred (3800) qualified candidates for the 2025/26 academic year. However, the college could admit only 400 students.
Very Reverend Prof Kwesi Nkum Wilson noted that until such issues are addressed, Ghanaian schools will continue to face challenges with inadequate professional teachers.
The Guest Speaker for the 15th Congregation ceremony, Most Reverend Professor Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, who doubles as the Presiding bishop of the Methodist church, Ghana, in a message, considered the day as all joyous as it fulfils a new beginning for the graduating students.
He praised the management, including the principal, tutors, and the non-teaching staff of the college, for the excellent academic performance of the 15th graduating class. He also praised the college’s SRC for contributing to building an edifice that was commissioned in the morning. He asked graduands not to underestimate their contributions as teachers in the outside world.
This, according to him, stems from the fact that their roles extend beyond the classroom. The Most Reverend asked them to see themselves as nation builders, destiny changers, and torch bearers of future leaders of the country. He urged them to live by the training received while on the Komenda of Education campus.
He advised the graduands to exhibit character traits such as integrity, resilience, passion for teaching, and a sense of humour that leave a legacy.
The best graduating student, Dominic Graham, thanked the staff and management of the college for how far they had brought them. He pledged the commitment of the entire 2024 graduating class to do their best possible to keep up at the schools where the government would post them to teach.
Dignitaries like the patron of the college and the bishop of the Cape Coast Diocese of the Methodist church, Rt. Rev. Richardson Aboagye Andam, the Member of Parliament for the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Constituency, Hon. Samuel Atta Mills, traditional leaders, and the college’s alumni graced the event.
Cadet displays, presentations to outstanding teachers inside and outside the college, as well as the commissioning of a project by the SRC, characterised the occasion.
About Komenda College of Education (KOMENCO)
Komenda College was established out of the buildings (barracks) left by the Fleet Air Arm of the British Navy after the Second World War. Through the efforts of Mr. A.B. Sam, the then regent of Komenda, the legacy was leased to the Methodist Church of Ghana in 1947 to be used as a training college.
The government of Ghana made some renovation works on the buildings to make them suitable for educational use. On 11th March 1948. The first batch of students, numbering forty men, was enrolled to start an initial 2-Year Teachers’ Certificate B Programme.
In 1952, the College became a co-educational institution with its first batch of thirty women.
The first Principal of the College was Mr. Lawrence Alfred Creedy, a British citizen.
The motto of the College is “Bepowso Kurow Hyeren”, meaning a city set on a hill, shines forth. M.H.B. 577 is the College hymn. The three strands adopted by the founding fathers were: -Academic excellence, Service to God, and Service to mankind.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
