Takoradi May 16, GNA - Mr. Joseph Annan, a Deputy Minister of Education, on Saturday said government would do all in its power to provide educational institutions with their needs to facilitate the provision of quality education.

He was speaking at the 3rd congregation of the Holy Child College of Education, on the theme: "Quality Teacher Education: The Bedrock of the Nation's Human Resource Development" in Takoradi. Some 944 students who took regular and sandwich programmes in Diploma of Education last year were presented with their certificates at the ceremony. Mr. Annan said if children are taught well at the basic level, it would help improve the nation's human resource base. He urged all stakeholders to play their respective roles in providing quality education as government is playing its part.

Mr. Annan said government's good intentions and determination to improve the quality of education is evident in the increase in the Capitation Grant, the provision of free exercise books and free uniforms to needy children as well as the payment of salaries of pre-school teachers. The construction of one model Senior High School in each district throughout the country is also an indication of the government's good gesture for the education sector, he said. Mr. Annan said there is a special project going on in all Colleges of Education to provide them with the needed infrastructure and vehicles to facilitate teaching and learning.

He said recently, 20 computers and accessories were distributed to almost all the colleges to make the teaching of Information Communication and Technology easy. Reverend Professor Emmanuel Addow Obeng, former vice chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, said there is no doubt that quality education and quality human resource depended on the quality of teachers. He said: "We cannot talk of quality education for all and quality human resource development without critically examining teacher education. Teacher education

takes centre stage in any discourse on quality education and human resource development."

Prof. Obeng said the education offered in the Colleges of Education was not sufficient to prepare a teacher for a career of 30 to 40 years. He said the world is changing and teaching skills are likewise evolving and in the light of these, continuous professional development is a must to enable teachers reflect upon their competencies, up-to-date and develop them further. Mrs Margaret Lemaire, Principal of the college said 770 of the graduates were sandwich students while the remaining 174 were regular students.