Aburi May 16, GNA - Mrs Rene .O. Boakye-Boaten, Eastern Regional Director of Education, has expressed concern about teachers refusing to accept postings to rural areas.

She noted that the situation had contributed to the decline of academic performance of school children in rural communities and said if the trend should continue it would affect the entire educational system.

Mrs Boakye-Boaten made the call at the fourth graduation ceremony of the Presbyterian Women's College of Education at Aburi at the weekend where 134 students received Diploma in Basic Education.

The Regional Director urged rural communities to give due recognition to teachers, who were posted to their areas, and encouraged them to stay.

She urged the newly graduates to make their presence felt in society where they would find themselves so that whatever they had received would be beneficial to society.

The Acting Principal of the College, Ms Grace Manubea Ansah, said the graduates were admitted into the college in September 2007 to pursue the programme.

She said this year's result was far better than the previous years and hoped that the trend would continue since a lot of measures had been put in place to enhance teaching and learning in the College. She urged the graduates not to consider what they had acquired as the ultimate, but rather aimed to acquire abundant knowledge to attain academic excellence that would enable them to succeed as excellent teachers.

Ms Manubea Ansah said even though the college had been given accreditation for the next three years, certain measures needed to be put in place for it to be recognized as a full tertiary institution in Ghana.

She said currently a number of development projects were going on in the College such as rehabilitation of walkways, construction of a sick-bay for students, re-stocking of books in the library and upgrading the staff.

Ms Manubea Ansah said almost all the 25 academic staff had been enrolled for their Masters' programme with 13 of them receiving their certificates and the remaining working on their long essays.

"This indicates that staff profiles are high and this has manifested in the result this year and I commend the staff for their dedication and efforts in raising academic standard in the College," she emphasized

She applauded the government for the efforts in transforming all teacher training colleges into tertiary institutions, which had given the colleges a new lift.

The Chairman of the Council of the College, Reverend Dr Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, congratulated the graduates and urged them to use all that they had acquired to help society.

Rev Dr Mante, who is also the Chairperson of the Akuapem Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, said the church would continue to support all its educational institutions.

He appealed to heads of Presbyterian educational institutions to ensure that the proverbial Presbyterian discipline was felt at all times.