St. Francis College of Education gets a new Principal and holds 13th & 14th Congregation

The investiture of Dr Adwoa Kwegyiriba as the 14th Principal of St. Francis College of Education, Hohoe in the Volta Region, was held during the congregation of the 2019 and 2020 batches of graduands.

The colourful joint ceremony, held at the Franco Auditorium amidst cultural performances was attended by members of the past governing council, the convocation, Dr Eric Nkansah, Director of Tertiary Education, MoE who represented the Minister of Education, Principals of various Colleges of Education, Hon. Dr Prince Hamid Armah, MP for Kwesimintsim and former acting Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) students and staff of the college, people from the academia, clergy, political and traditional leaders as well as family and friends.  Dr Ahmed Jinapor Deputy Director General for Ghana Tertiary Education Commission chaired the occasion.

Dr. Adwoa Kwegyiriba is assuming the position of the first substantive female Principal of the college with rich experience as an academic as well as a good track record in university administration.

In a speech, the new Principal stated her preparedness to make St Francis College of Education one of the best teacher training institutions in the country. She said, “We shall ensure that we remain and maintain our focus of inculcating in our students, the requisite academic abilities, professional competencies, and moral values for teaching in the basic school level for the physical, social and economic advancement of this country.

With regards to teaching and learning, the new Principal promised a new dawn for students of the college. She said her vision is to position the college as a competitive teacher training institution for the advancement in quality teacher education delivery towards sustainable, national, and global development. This she added can be achieved through transformative leadership skills, active stakeholder participation, quality education delivery, research, and international partnership. It is in that regard that the college sent three students to Belgium on a study program for three months. Four tutors will join them in March. This is as a result of a partnership program between St. Francis College of Education and St. Thomas More University, Belgium.

On his part, the Registrar of the National Teaching Council, Dr Christian Addai-Poku advised students to be highly skilled in the use of information and communication technologies by integrating them in their teaching delivery.

Various speakers at the event advised the graduating students to appreciate and implement the core values of the noble profession which include honesty, integrity, and creativity.

The congregation which was held on the theme: “Inculcating the 21st Century skills into Teacher Education, the role of Colleges of Education” had a total of 768 students graduating. For the 2019 batch, 12 students were awarded first-class honours, 148 had second class (upper division), 152 obtained second class (lower division), and 59 had third class with 14 making a pass.

The 2020 batch presented 385 students with 20 awarded a first-class, 197 and 104 had second class upper and lower divisions respectively, 47 received third class with 7 having a pass.

Mr Isaac Tetteh was adjudged the overall best graduating student of the 2019 graduating class whilst Mr Wise Kwesi Asamoah emerged as the best graduating student of the 2020 graduating class.

A special award was given Mr Aaron Dela Abotsi of the 2020 graduating class for being the first SRC President to obtain first class in the history of the college.

Brief Profile of the new Principal, Dr Adwoa Kwegyiriba 

Dr Adwoa Kwegyiriba is a professional teacher who holds the Teacher’s Certificate “A” from the Komenda College of Education in 1996. She also has a Bachelor of Education in Primary Education and a Master of Arts Degree in Development Studies, both from the University of Cape Coast.

Dr. Kwegyiriba’s passion for knowledge and interest in academia led her to pursue further studies abroad where she obtained her PhD in Economics and Management of Education at Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST) Graduate School of Education, Wuhan, China. Dr. Kwegyiriba is an astute researcher and has authored 46 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Kwegyiriba is the National Director of Research for Women in Technical Education, a member of the Chartered Professional Administrators (ChPA), and a professional fellow of the Chartered Institute of Administrators and Management Consultants (CIAMC)-Ghana.

Until her appointment as the substantive principal, she worked in different capacities at Takoradi Technical University from 2008. She is an accomplished academic and university administrator with over fifteen years of experience in the field of higher education.

She was the Dean of the Centre for Languages and Liberal Studies (2020–2021). She also worked as an acting librarian (2019–2021). Her work at the Technical University was not only limited to managerial and administrative duties but also academic roles. She was a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Languages and Liberal Studies.

Contributor: Pearlvis Atsu Kuadey