The 2022/2023 colleges of Education admissions have been criticized and backlashed by the majority due to the restrictions imposed by the government on the colleges regarding the number of students to admit (admission quota system)
Despite the huge number of applicants for the year, the 46 public Colleges of education are to admit only a total of 12,002 applicants for the 2022/2023 academic year.
According to the Executive Director of GTEC, Professor Mohammed Salifu, The reintroduction of this admission quota system is due to the limited infrastructure( limited spaces) at the various colleges of education to accommodate the increased number of students on campus.
He added that the accommodation issue in the colleges will be solved by the 300-Bed Hostel Blocks Project which the government through the Ghana Tertiary Education began in June 2022 and is anticipated to be completed in 2023.
“We planned a program of physical infrastructural expansion, but the expansion hasn’t kept pace with the progress of the cohort. So as it stands now, physical space is still a little limited.” He explained.
However, the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare has refuted the claims by the Director of GTEC, asserting that the reintroduction of the quota system is due to the government’s inability to pay trainees’ allowances.
In a post sighted on his Facebook page, Kofi Asare stated;
‘Gov’t cuts CoE admissions by 30% (6,000) because there is no cash to sustain the wasteful teacher trainee allowance policy. Welcome back to 2009-2013. We play too much!’
Adding that, he does not understand why the government should invest millions to expand Colleges of Education only to impose an admission quota and limit the intake.
“What’s the wisdom behind investing millions to expand CoE’s to admit more, only to impose admission quotas & limit intake just b’cos you can’t afford allawa? Remove the quotas; if you won’t scrap allawa, admit those who don’t need allawa!” he expressed.
Kofi Asare believes the limited number of applicants offered admissions cannot be due to the lack of infrastructure as some colleges which can accommodate 450 students are now directed by GTEC to admit only 290.
“CoEs with the capacity to admit 450 will now take 290 b’cos gov’t can’t pay trainee allawa for the 450. Even if one opts to forego allawa, still no admission. Yet, we need more trained teachers.
We were here before 2014. Asuoden!”
Concluding that the reintroduction of the admission quota system is because the government is battling to pay trainee allowances
Reacting to the development in an interview, Professor Mohammed Salifu insisted the move to bring back the quota system is as a result of limited physical spaces at the various Colleges of Education due to the running of the four-year system and not students’ allowances.
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no policy change with the reintroduction of the trainee allowances, so that hasn’t been in the equation at all. It hasn’t been one of our considerations, we are dealing with an existing policy that recognizes that we pay them [teacher trainees] allowances. But the numbers we are dealing with now are just numbers that are constrained by the physical space that the colleges have,” he emphasised.
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