AMECO builds residential flats for teaching staff with IGF

The E.P. College of Education, Amedzofe (AMECO) has inaugurated a six-unit two-bedroom residential block for the staff.

The GH¢2.2 million facility was financed with the college’s internally generated funds (IGF).

“This is a testament to what visionary planning and responsible financial management can achieve,” the Principal, Dr Dickson Tsey, said at the inaugurationof the facility recently.

Pressure

He said the flats would ease the pressure on existing facilities and help to improve staff retention and enhance the general well-being of the staff and their output.

The building is the third major facility constructed through the college’s IGF in the past four years, following the administration annex and the 160-capacity female hostel.

“We acknowledge with gratitude the partial contribution made by the alumni to the residential project,” said the principal.

The commissioning coincided with the 17th congregation of the college, which was on the theme: “79 years of quality teacher education – The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing delivery”.

In all, 353 students who had satisfied the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Education in Basic Education Degree, took part in the congregation.

Out of the figure, 266 pursued Bachelor of Education, Junior High School Education, and 69 studied Bachelor of Education, Primary Specialism.

Dr Tsey hailed the performance of the fresh graduates as sterling, with 27 First Class Honours and 297 Second Class Upper.

The principal said AMECO now had an enrolment of 1, 054 made up of 555 males and 499 females.

Appeal

He renewed his appeal to the government, GETFund, non-governmental organisations, the college alumni to help AMECO to put up an auditorium, saying that all official events, including matriculation and graduation, were held outdoors.

Dr Tsey said AMECO now has 47 teaching staff and 56 non-teaching staff.

However, he said the increasing number of students required the recruitment of more staff, especially the non-academic ones.

The Chairman of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Dr Harry L.K. Agbanu, who was the special guest at the event, said the theme for the congregation was relevant and timely, considering the evolving academic and global technologies.

He said artificial intelligence (AI) was no longer a far-off concept reserved for technological giants, but was already making an entry into classrooms.

For instance, Dr Agbanu said the Digital Literacy Policy under the Ministry of Education aimed to equip every teacher and student with 21st-century skills, including understanding the ethical dimensions of and effective use of AI to enhance education delivery.

Educators

He congratulated AMECO for producing educators who had gone on to light the torch of knowledge in every corner of the nation and the world at large.

Similarly, the acting Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, Professor Augustine Ocloo, said AI held vast promises to personalise learning, liberate teachers from administrative burdens, and bring world-class education resources to every corner of the nation.

However, he cautioned that unregulated AI threatened the very core of education.

“We face the perils of data colonialism, industrial-scale academic dishonesty, and the devaluation of human touch – the empathy, motivation, and moral guidance that only a teacher can provide,” Professor further warned.

He told fresh students AI was not a replacement for the human teacher, but their role was even now more crucial to build an education system where AI was a partner and not a master.

Present was the Moderator of the General Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPCG), Rt Rev. Lt Col Bliss Divine Agbeko (rtd)