Offinso College of Education

Offinso College of Education is a teacher education college in Offinso (Offinso Municipal, Ashanti Region, Ghana).[1] The college is located in Ashanti / Brong Ahafo zone. It is one of the about 40 public colleges of education in Ghana.[2] The college participated in the DFID-funded T-TEL programme.[3] It was established in 1955 by the Gold Coast District of the Methodist Church as a teacher training college for women. It attained tertiary level status in September 2007 and is affiliated to the University of Cape Coast.[4]

Offinso College of Education

Established	February 3, 1955 (1955-02-03)
Affiliation	Government of Ghana
Location	Offinso , Offinso South District , A70014 , Ghana 6.94795°N 1.68230°W / 6.94795; -1.68230
Language	English
Region Zone	Ashanti Ashanti / Brong Ahafo
Short name	Offinco
Source: An Atlas of The Forty Colleges of Education in Ghana.[1]

History

In pursuance of its educational practices in the 1950s, the Gold Coast District of the Methodist Church established the Offinso College of Education – a two-year Teacher Training College for women.[5] The College was established on the 3rd February, 1955 with Miss M. Turnbull, serving  as the first Principal. The college started with 30 female students for the two year Teachers’ Certificate “B” and had as tutors, the Principal, Miss Dorothy M. Turnbull, Miss Rose Asiedu Awuah (Mrs. Rose Coker) and Miss Victoria Homiah. Mr. S. K. Arku was Clerk/Bursar.[6] A two-storey building was provided by Opanin Kwadwo Krah. This building, for eleven year, provided the college with dormitories, staff accommodation, dining hall, Library and offices.[5]

From the 1962/63 academic year, the two-year Certificate ‘B’ course was upgraded to four-year Certificate ‘A’ course. The college, in January 1966, moved to its permanent site. By 1971, student enrolment had increased from 60 to 300. In September 1971, the college was turned into a mixed institution with the enrolment of 70 first year male students. Seventy three male students from Aduman Training College were transferred to the college.[6] In October 1972, Mr. Amofa Kwasi became the first male principal of the college. In 1974, the Post Secondary two-year Certificate ‘A’ course was introduced in the college. This course was replaced with the three-year Post Secondary course. It started a three-year Diploma in Basic Education programme in 2004. The college has been upgraded to the tertiary level of education since September 2007. The National Accreditation Board (Ghana) has presented a certificate to that effect. Although a Methodist affiliated institution, the Chaplaincy has given places of worship to students of all other denominations to promote religious freedom among staff and students. Offinso Training College has chalked great success in female education in particular, and teacher education in general.[5]

Mission: The Mission of the College is to provide quality teacher with excellent profession and relevant teacher training, that would produce competent, dedicated, God fearing and committed teachers who will perform creditably by international standards.[7]

Vision: The vision of the College is that it shall create excellent teaching and learning environment and opportunities for training quality basic teachers with emphasis on knowledge, skills, and values for quality education, recognizing that education is the key to human resource development of Ghana.[7]

Offinso College of Education after being given accreditation by the National Accreditation Board (NAB) of the Ministry of Education, it  runs the following programmes:

• 3-year diploma in Basic Education for regular students (only general programme currently).
• 4-year Diploma in Basic Education (Distance programme for untrained teachers)
• 4-year Certificate  A (distance programme for untrained Teachers)[7]

Roll of Principals

Name	Years served
Ms. Dorothy M. Turnbull	Feb. 1955-Dec.1959
Ms. G.M. Ostler	Jan. 1960-Aug. 1963
Ms. Clara J. Amerin	Sept.1963-May 1964
Mrs. Susana Antwi-Nsiah	May 1964-Aug. 1971
Mrs. Hannah Martin Dolling	Sept.1971-Oct. 1972
Mr. Amos Kwasi Amofa	Oct. 1972- Dec.1973
Mr. Jacob A.K. Benson	Jan. 1974
Mr. Anthony Gaisei-Essilfie	Feb. 1974- Jan. 1981
Mrs. Lydia Afriyie Amoako	Feb. 1981- Aug. 1981
Mr. Kwabena Gyapon	Sept. 1981-Aug. 1990
Mr. Y.F. Okra	Oct. 1990-Jan. 1991
Mr. A.B. Rockson	Jan. 1991-Sept. 1996
Mr. Kwame Twumasi-Ankra	Sept. 1996-Oct. 2004
Ms. Christian Agyare Boateng	Nov. 2004-April, 2005
Nana P.K Opoku	April. 2005-

References

1. Björn Haßler, Jacob Tetteh Akunor, Enock Seth Nyamador (2017). An Atlas of The Forty Colleges of Education in Ghana. Available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International. Available at http://bjohas.de/atlas2017
2. National Accreditation Board, Ghana - Public Colleges of Education
3. "Our network". Transforming Teacher Education and Learning, Ghana. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
4. "Offinso College of Education - T-TEL". www.t-tel.org. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
5. "Learning Hub - T-TEL". www.t-tel.org. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
6. "Offinso Training College celebrates golden jubilee". www.ghanaweb.com. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
7. "About Ofinso College of Education". Ti-mes. Retrieved 2019-07-16.