Navrongo (UER) May 19, GNA- Vice President Alhaji Mahama at the weekend tasked teachers to be passionate about the teaching and nurturing of the future leaders of the country.

"We need teachers who are willing to accept postings to the remotest parts of the country and are prepared to work hard under trying conditions. That is the only way to achieve the laudable policy objectives of the Educational Reform Programme," he noted. Vice President Mahama, was speaking at Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana District of the Upper East Region, where he joined the staff and students of the St. John Bosco Training College, to mark the 60th anniversary of the teaching facility, established by Catholic missionaries 1946.

It was on the theme: "60 years of Teacher Training Par Excellence." He said, as role models, teachers should treat attitudinal change with absolute importance.

Vice President Mahama urged the teacher trainees to take their studies seriously in order to become professionals that could deliver improved services.

He said the college was expected to equip students with the requisite knowledge and inculcate in them the qualities of good citizenship in order to contribute their quota towards national development.

Vice President Mahama lauded the success story of the college as another evidence of the effective collaboration and partnership between the State and the Church in meeting the material and spiritual needs of the people.

"But for the Catholic Church, most of you sitting here from this part of the country might not have received formal education. " I am reliably informed that the products of this college are people who are hardworking and devoted to duty and are therefore role models for others. Discipline, hardwork and commitment to duty are values upon which successful economies and societies the world over have been built."

Touching on the labour front, Vice President Mahama said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission set up by the Public Sector Reform Ministry would come out with improved packages. "All workers should endeavour to increase productivity to enable the country to increase the financial resource base so that we can all receive a fair share of the national cake."

Mrs. Angelina Baiden Amissah, Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports observed that a lot remained to be done in respect of teacher development, especially for teacher training colleges. She said development in teacher training failed to recognise the teacher as a key figure in addressing the needs and challenges of educational pursuit.

This, she observed had caused the failure of most educational investments in many countries in Sub-Sharan Africa.

Mr. Boniface Gambilah, Regional Minister asked teachers to evaluate the cost the country encounters anytime they embarked on industrial action.

Mrs. Elizabeth Mwinkaar, Regional Director of Education noted that only seven teacher training colleges serve the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions and appealed to the government to provide more of such facilities or expand the existing ones in order to attract more enrolments.

Mr. Alfred Ndago, Principal of the college said since the inception of the school, it had produced 7,164 teachers. He said the college was among the top three teacher training institutions in Ghana in terms of academic excellence and was nominated in 2005 for the Millennium Excellence Award. In addition, St John Bosco was given an award in 1989 for its contribution towards the development of the region in the area of discipline, which, he said, was the hallmark of the college. "The college has not witnessed student unrest for the past eight years and this, to me, is commendable record," he said. Mr Ndago said his administration had created a number of initiatives, which include the Principal's Special Initiative on Grafted Mango. He said challenges facing the school comprised lack of funds to run in-service training sessions for staff, difficulty in pumping water to the school reservoir and encroachment of college lands.

Bishop Lucas Abadamloora, Catholic Bishop of Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, asked the school to eschew religious fanatism by promoting freedom of worship and tolerance. Mr Thomas Waluntey, President of the Students Representative Council, appealed for staff and student accommodation on campus to facilitate teaching and learning. 19 May 07