Kibi, May 24. GNA- President John Evans Atta Mills has stated that, government would continue to think of ways of motivating and ensuring retention of teachers in the teaching service to enable them to play the expected role in the educational system. He observed that, teacher education constitute in-build mechanism which serves all the components of national development and ensures its sustainability hence teacher education needs to be accorded the utmost attention.

This was contained in a speech read on behalf of the President by Mrs Elizabeth Amoah Tetteh, Deputy Minister of Education in-charge of Pre-Tertiary Education at the first congregation of the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education at Kyebi on Saturday. The college which was established in 1963 as a teacher training college was granted accreditation as a tertiary institution on September 1, 2007.

President Mills expressed concern that private schools in Accra and Kumasi have both higher pupil/teacher ratios and only 25 per cent trained staff and yet pupils in these schools perform better than those in public schools.

He therefore called on teachers and all public servants to show real commitment to work and do so as duty to the nation and humanity.

Mr James Adu-Opare, Director of Institute of Education, University of Cape Coast (UCC) who was the guest speaker for the occasion called on the college to generate the content of education that could support the new educational reforms.

He called on the graduands to take advantage of the opportunity available at the Centre for Continuing Education of UCC to upgrade their status.

Rev. E.Y. Omenako, the Principal of Kibi Presbyterian College of Education appealed for the rehabilitation of the 2.4 kilometre stretch of access road to the school and the roads in the school and also said the school also needed staff accommodation , departmental offices and an auditorium.