‘Thank you for restoring teacher trainee allowance’

The Principal of the Tamale College of Education (TACE), Dr Iddrisu Sulemana, has commended the government for restoring the teacher trainee allowance.

Dr Sulemana, who made the commendation at the ninth matriculation ceremony of the school in Tamale, called on students of the various colleges of education to put the restored allowances to good use and the purpose it was intended for.

"I would like to profoundly express our appreciation to government for the restoration of the students' allowances. I hope and pray that students of the colleges of education will use it judiciously for the purposes it is intended", he stated.

Number of students admitted

Dr Sulemana, addressing the matriculants, said the college received a total of 1,920 applications for the 2017/2018 academic year out of which 1,440 representing 75.05 per cent, qualified but could only admit 520 of the qualified applicants representing 36.07 per cent.

" It is disheartening to note that 921 of the qualified applicants representing 63.09 per cent were not admitted", he said.

" It is instructive to note that we tried our very best to admit as many qualified students as possible but we were unable to do so due to constraint of space and human resources", Dr Sulemana stated.

He was, however, hopeful that when the infrastructure of the college improved, the college would be able to take a lot more of qualified applicants in the future.

Advice

He urged the matriculants to take cognisance of the fact that, knowledge, discipline, tender heartedness and patience were the hall marks of the teaching profession and, therefore, urged the students to aspire for academic excellence in their pursuits.

" Any teacher who falters in his or her pursuits for knowledge will certainly compromise his or her authority in the classroom", he stated.

Dr Sulemana further urged the matriculants to take their studies seriously , saying, “as teachers to be, you must learn assiduously" and also used the occasion to call on the fresh students, who are going to pursue a three-year Diploma in Basic Education programme, to embrace all co-curricula activities in the college to enable them to discover their hidden potentials.