Professor Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, Vice Chancellor of the University of Education Winneba, has appealed to the government to provide the needed financial resources to aid increased intake and human resource capacity building in the education sector.

He said the University would require massive cash inflows to train high calibre teachers and educational administrators in addition to initiating quality research that would have significant and sustained impact on education in the country.

Prof Asabere-Ameyaw made the appeal at a matriculation ceremony to admit students into the College of Technology Education of the University in Kumasi.

Three thousand and forty (3,040) were admitted to pursue various programmes at the undergraduate level, while new 255 students have been enrolled to study at the post graduate level.

Prof Asabere-Ameyaw explained that UEW was the only university in Ghana that was totally committed to the development of human resource needs of the country’s educational sector.

The teacher requirements of the nation, he said, required massive increase in access, however, the available facilities and other resources are limited and hugely overstretched with virtually no funds for their expansion.

“We need to improve and expand our facilities as we make conscious efforts at replacing antiquated equipment inherited from diploma awarding institutions established well over half a century ago,” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor said such obsolete facilities could adequately help in the training of competent teachers that could comfortably face the challenges of the 21st century classroom.

Prof Asabere-Ameyaw said in order to remain competitive in the globalized world, the facilities needed to be modernized, student-lecturer-ratio ought to shore up, whilst laboratories and workshops be equipped with state-of-the art machines.

The refurbishment of ICT laboratories to attract and retain world class competent staff should be the other essential component to make the university a formidable force in teacher education.

He said the University, currently ranked among the best on the African continent, had the potential to become the best in the provision of quality teacher education on the continent when given the needed support.

Prof Asabere-Ameyaw advised the new students to choose the right friends and avoid acts that could be detrimental to their career development.