Colleges of education to get e-books, learning materials

The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and The Netherlands-based provider of information solutions, Reed Elsevier, have signed a $300,000 agreement for Elsevier to provide e-books and other resources for all the 38 colleges of education in the country.

The three-year agreement, which will be renewable subject to the satisfaction of the colleges of education, will provide electronically based teaching and learning materials in all the different applications required in the colleges of education.

The materials will include e-books and the latest educational journals which are relevant to teaching and learning in the colleges of education in the country.

The Executive Secretary of the NCTE, Professor Mohammed Salifu, and the Chairman of Reed Elsevier, Dr Y.S. Chi, signed for the colleges of education and Reed Elsevier, respectively.

Relevance of facility

Prof. Salifu explained that the contract agreement stipulated that it might be renewed subject to the satisfaction of the colleges themselves, adding, “The colleges themselves have to come out and tell us that they are really satisfied with it and it is only under such circumstance that we have to renew it.”

He gave an assurance that the NCTE would ensure that the colleges used the facilities to facilitate teaching and learning.

He explained that the move was to push the colleges to become fully fledged tertiary educational institutions, and added that a number of capacity-building programmes were being undertaken to equip the training institutions.

Importance of e-learning

Responding, Dr Chi said the collaboration would provide information for 45,000 students and faculties in the colleges of education and access for more than 2,500 scholarly journals, as well as 11,000 books.

“Today marks the beginning of what we believe will be a strong and fruitful relationship between Elsevier and Ghana. It is our hope that together we will be able to support all Ghanaian public and technical universities,” he said.

The Charge d’Affairs of The Netherlands Embassy, Mr Thierry van Helden, in a brief statement, said in order to have well-functioning tertiary institutions, “you really need access to content and, in this day and age, e-learning is the way to go”.

He said relations between The Netherlands and Ghana had moved from development-led cooperation to trade-led cooperation and was hopeful that the agreement would be a lasting partnership and one of the great examples of the The Netherlands and Ghana growing together.  

The Deputy Director in charge of Tertiary Education at the Ministry of Education, Mr Cephas Mensah, who spoke for the ministry, described the signing as a landmark which would enhance the capacity of teachers.

Writer’s Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh