The Principal of Al-Faruq College of Education at Wenchi in the Bono Region, Mr Wahab Sualihu, has urged the government to take immediate steps to halt the “brain drain syndrome” the country is grappling with.
According to him, like other profession which are bearing the brunt of brain drain syndrome lecturers in the college who attain the terminal PhD degrees quickly abandoned the school for greener pastures abroad, especially in United Kingdom and United States of America, while others leave for more lucrative appointments in other institutions in the country. “I have lost three staff in the recent Ghanaian workers exodus.”
The Principal of the college was speaking at the 1st congregation of the college at Wenchi, last Saturday.
The colourful ceremony witnessed the conferment of degrees and diplomas of three cohorts of students who had successfully completed their course of study under the mentorship of University of Cape Coast.
These include the first two cohorts of the Phase out three-year Diploma in Basic Education (DEB) programme who completed in 2019 and 2020, and the pioneer batch of the new Bachelor of Education degree programme who completed in 2022.
In all, 526 students made up of 272 males and 254 females graduated.
The Principal of the college appealed to the government to address infrastructure challenges faced by the college to improve academic work in the school.
He explained that upon absorption of the college, the government awarded seven projects which included administration block, lecture halls, a multi-purpose hall with auditorium, but the project had stalled at ground preparation stage, affecting teaching and learning in the school.
Mr Sualihu also urged the government to provide the school with school bus as 4×4 Toyota pick-up had broken down.
The Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu Banahene, in an address congratulated the college and students for their achievements despite the numerous challenges they were grappling with.
She said teachers over the years,
had been making great impact on national development, indicating that government was working hard to implement programmes and policies to improve the fortunes of teachers in the country.
She appealed to the graduate to accept posting to rural communities to help groom rural children for the betterment of mother Ghana.
The college affiliated with University for Development Studies is the first and only college that offers Bachelor of Arabic Education programme.
The school was established by Al-Muntada Al-Islami, a Saudi NGO as Wenchi Educational Complex (WEDCO) to provide quality education in both Arabic and secular education, particularly to the poor rural and Zongo communities.
The school ran from 1991 to 2005 and was later converted to a private college of education in 2011.
The College was absorbed by the government in June 2015.
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, WENCHI
