The government has stated that a lack of infrastructure led to its decision to reinstate the admission quota system at the nation’s colleges of education.
For the 2022–2023 academic year, the government declared on December 16, 2022, that the quota system would be reinstated for the 46 authorized public colleges of education.
This action is probably going to hinder potential candidates from enrolling in the various Colleges of Education.
A total of 12,002 potential teacher trainees are anticipated to be admitted into the Colleges of Education for the 2022–2023 academic year, per the list made public by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).
The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission provided a list of colleges of education together with their respective admission quotas for the academic year under consideration in a letter to the National Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF).
The Executive Director of GTEC, Professor Mohammed Salifu, responded to the new development in a Citi News interview by stating that physical spaces at the various Colleges of Education are limited as a result of the operation of the four-year system, which is why the move to reinstate the quota system and reduce enrolment was made.
“We planned a program of physical infrastructural expansion, but the expansion hasn’t kept pace with the progress of the cohort. So as it stands now, physical space is still a little limited. You would have heard that we have hostel projects going on across all the various colleges. While that is ongoing, we have to manage the space we have. That is what informed the decision,” the Executive Director of GTEC explained.
Claims that the payment of teacher trainee allowances was the reason for the restoration of the quota system were refuted by Professor Salifu.
You can check the quotas for all the schools here
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no policy change with the reintroduction of the trainee allowances, so that hasn’t been in the equation at all. It hasn’t been one of our considerations, we are dealing with an existing policy that recognizes that we pay them [teacher trainees] allowances. But the numbers we are dealing with now are just numbers that are constrained by the physical space that the colleges have,” he emphasized.
Peter Norstsu Kotoe, the ranking member of the Parliament’s Education Committee, criticized the decision as sad and claimed it would inhibit the development of education in the nation.
He demanded that the government tell Ghanaians the truth about the allowances given to teacher trainees, claiming that there isn’t enough money to pay them.
“It’s rather unfortunate because day in and day out, the number of teachers we need in our schools is increasing especially at the pre-tertiary or the basic level. So I’m surprised that government can cut down on the number, the reason being the lack of infrastructure, I disagree. They are only refusing to tell the public that government does not have money to pay the so-called allowances,” Mr. Kotoe said.
