An urgent call has been advocated for a rethink of how teachers are trained in both universities and colleges of education in the country. “In making teaching in our institutions of higher education meaningful to students and our nation, we need to rethink how teachers are prepared in our universities and colleges of education”. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro said this at a seminar organised by the Centre for Teaching Support (CTS) on the theme: “Decolonising Mind and Action, Improving Teaching and Impact in Higher Education: Reflections in Ghana”. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor who was dilating on the sub-theme: “Colonial Mindsets in Higher Education Teaching: Influences on Teaching Philosophy, Pedagogical Stance and Teaching Impact”. The curriculum of tertiary institutions across the continent is still modeled on the thoughts and practices of the West and thus seems to orient towards the ideals of the colonial masters. This, notwithstanding the fact they physically departed the shores of the continent several decades ago. It was in the light of this that the forum was organised to find the way forward for this huge drawback on the continents development. Effort to reorient learning in higher education in Africa was made over five and a half decades ago when the Institute of African Studies and the School of Music and Drama were set up at the University of Ghana. This, Prof. Oduro said was made clear in the inaugural address of Osagyefo (Dr.) Kwame Nkrumah when he called for a “re-interpretation and a new assessment of African past and the abrogation of Eurocentric paradigms towards the study of African culture”. Unfortunately, however, Prof. Oduro said 60 years after Ghana’s independence, there must be something overwhelmingly wrong with the delivery of university education since in the minds of many analysts of African universities the curriculum and degree structure of African universities and the medium of delivery were deeply rooted in colonialism. Touching on the mindset that underpinned higher education provision and delivery in Africa, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor said it could be deduced from a proposal made by British Colonial Governor Laud Macauley that: “I have travelled across the length and breadth of Africa and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief- such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values. People of such caliber, I do not think we would ever conquer... unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Africans think that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose self esteem, their native culture and they will become that we want them, a truly dominated nation”. According to Prof. Oduro, the Centre through the forum, was re-affirming the commitment of the university to Dr. Nkrumah’s Africanisation agenda for higher education as enshrined in the university’s anthem as: “we ‘re the brain child of Nkrumah, we train, we mould and live by his vision to impact all virtues that Ghana may be heightened”. To help uphold this virtue, he called for a paradigm shift from teacher centered teaching approaches to learner-centered and activity approach such as discussion method, problem-based teaching and IT aided teaching methods. He urged teachers to create non-threatening learning environments that would promote the voices of students and also endeavour to inform their teaching with local researched literature instead of the over-reliance on foreign literature. A Professor of African History at the University, Prof. De-Velera Botchway, who also spoke on the sub-theme, “Disrupting Colonial Mindset in the 21st Century Higher Education Teaching: The Power of Critiquing Colonial Paradigms and Engaging Reflective Thinking about Thoughts and Action” was not happy that in the 21st century the education set up in Africa was still following that of the colonial masters. Prof. Botchway reiterated that it was this kind of malaise that Kwame Nkrumah wanted to eradicate with the establishment of UCC, but upon his overthrow in 1966 those who took up the mantle did not deem it fit to continue. “Education must be Afrocentric in vision to help overthrow the colonial set up. We need to have the power to define”. Quoting one of South Africa’s freedom fighters Steve Biko, Prof. Botchway said the most potent weapon in the hands of oppressor was “the mind of the oppressed” and said, this called for the emancipation of the minds of Africans from mental slavery. Waxing lyrical the history Professor called on Africans to work towards this themselves by reminding them of what the late Jamaican Reggae legend Bob Marley said about this as: “Emancipate your self from mental slavery, non but ourselves can free our minds”. One major setback to this forward march for Africans to be masters of their own is the use of the language of the colonisers as both medium of instruction in schools and as official language in Africa. “We are still using the language of the colonizer and this is the main problem of keeping to the clutches of coloniality”. Prof. Botchway indicated that, to be respected in the globalised world “is to go back to originality”. Describing coloniality as the continuous use of the vestiges of colonialism in our current dispensation, he deplored the use of Latin words as motto of institutions, the wearing of wigs and gowns by judicial officers, use of academic gowns during graduation ceremonies and suits as official uniforms. He called for the creation of African symbols and dress codes for such functions since they would do away with those colonial representations in our institutions. He appealed to teachers to co-create and co-learn with their students instead of them acting the “sole repository of learning’. “Teachers still adopt the missionary method of teaching and see students as ‘tabula rasa’ meaning having nothing in their heads”, he noted. “This must change, educating people to regurgitate and by rote learning does not allow our students to contribute anything to society upon completion. We are training a lot but nothing changes”, Prof. Botchway stressed. Explaining the purpose of the programme, the Director of CTS, Dr. Douglas Agyei said the seminar was organised to help teaching staff of the University and other institutions of higher education to engage in critical reflection and develop practices that would improve teaching and learning. He added that CTS provides training through workshops, seminars on variety of seminars. The seminar was chaired by the Director of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC), Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim  

A two-day training workshop aimed at building the capacity of Hall Counsellors, Chaplaincy Committee and new Members of the Sexual Harassment Committee has ended with a call on participants to place priority on their safety and that of their clients. Organised by the Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD), the workshop was held to educate participants on how to handle sexual harassment cases among staff and students of the University. “The immediate safety of your client and your own safety should be your first priority. Never assume that as for you; you cannot fall. You must constantly be aware of the fact that there are temptations in this world. If you do not stand well, someone may construe your sensitivity to be love. And that might see your downfall,” a lecturer at the Methodist University College, Mr. Adolf Awuku Bekoe, advised. According to Mr. Adolf Awuku Bekoe, there was nothing wrong for the participants to erect boundaries for their clients to know that they were in control and don’t have “blurred vision when it comes to your moral standing and emotions.” Mr. Bekoe, who was speaking on the topic “Handling Sexual Harassment Cases (Victims) with Sensitivity, said many organisations were grappling with tons of law suits for creating hostile working environment. “Victims are taking organisations to court and in other jurisdiction organisations are paying dearly for creating hostile environment for allowing sexual harassment to fester.” To help stem the tide of sexual harassment, the resource person called for the empowerment of sexual harassment victims by taking the perpetrators to court for prosecution to deter others. Mr. Bekoe said sexual harassment could have a negative effect on individuals and employers, namely: decreased job satisfaction, unfavourable performance evaluations, loss of jobs or promotion, absenteeism, withdrawal from work or school and change in career goals. Mr. Bekoe noted that organisations have dual obligations towards their staff through prevention and intervention as regards to handling sexual harassment cases. “When it hasn’t happened, you prevent it. When it happens you intervened”, he said, while calling for public education, durbars, awareness to prevent it,noting that when it happens the Sexual Harassment Committee should decisively intervene a reported case. He took participants through topics such as “Empowering the survivor of sexual harassment, “Useful steps when handling survivors of sexual harassment” and “Beyond victimizations". Addressing participants on “Legal Definition, Constitution and Human Rights Dimensions, some facts and Processes,” a Human Rights Activist, Mrs. Christabel Dadzie, said most employers abuse their authority either explicitly or implicitly for victims of sexual harassment to succumb to their advances before offering them jobs or promotion.. Some of the topics she took participants through were the procedure of sexual harassment investigations, including creating a conducive environment for enquiry, period of the enquiry, launching the complaint, evidence and decision of the committee. Mrs. Dadzie added that each complainant needs encouragement to stick with process. However, she noted if complainant chooses not to participate in the hearing, the Committee may still proceed with the inquiry. She advised participants not to belittle objection(s) raise by any member of the Committee during investigation so as to serve as a precedent for future cases. She stressed that sexual harassment victims have right to external investigations, adding that complainant has a right to access Police, Courts, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Legal Aid Board and Customary arbitration process. The Director of CEGRAD, Prof. Akua Britwum, made a presentation on the topic “Gender and Power Dynamics in Sexual Harassment”. The Outreach Coordinator of CEGRAD, Dr. Genevieve Adukpo, commended the participants for taken time of their busy schedules to participate in the workshop and urged them to handle sexual harassment cases in their jurisdictions well.

Panelists at a Roundtable discussion have unanimously posited that the Arts have huge part to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG). The roundtable, which was organised under the SDG –Graduate School, has three main collaborators in University of Cape Coast, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria and University of Heldsheim, Germany. Under the collaboration, 12 PHD students and 6 masters students will be trained in the first instance. The theme for the discussion was “The Role of the Arts in Sustainable Development” and had panelists drawn from both academia and industry. It was held to find the possible contribution that the Arts could make towards the achievement of the SDGs. In his presentation, Prof. Victor Yankah of the Department of Film and Theatre Studies, UCC, indicated that the Arts has since both pre and post independence era been used to educate the masses on patriotism and nation building. He said Kwame Nkrumah for instance had the belief that drama and songs could be used to create awareness in what it meant to be the new Ghanaian after independence. He wondered whether it was not possible to revisit the period of mobile cinema concept in the light of the apparent devastation of the country’s forest resources through illegal mining (galamsey). Prof. Yankah said, “When we do that our future generations will be disinherited. One day we will have to show pictures to our children to say this is how a forest looks like or direct them to Nageo world”. He said, for example, in Burkina Faso the Arts was used to educate farmers on how to do an all year round planting and said a similar effort could be made to tackle the devastation of the environment. He bemoaned the practice where funding was mostly given to the Sciences to the detriment of the Arts. “Unfortunately, for the Arts funding eludes us, the Sciences are often given funding for research because of the contention that they rather contribute more to the SDGs”. “This is even more in our institutions where they give more funding to sciences than the Arts. We always misconstrue the role of the Arts”. Contributing, Prof. Brigit Mandel of the University of Hildesheim, said the word sustainability originated from forest economy and therefore, we can experience the entire spectrum of human diversity and emotions through the Arts. “The Arts can show different perspective of the world, in Germany for example we use the Arts to preserve our Heritage”, she added. The Vice-President of the Musicians Union of Ghana, Mr. Bessa Simons called for the reintroduction of Music as an examinable subject in basic schools to whip up interests in the youth. Mr. Bessa Simons advocated for the collection of comprehensive data to convince policy makers on what the Arts could offer with respect to the SDGs. “We have to get data and research that will support what we are saying and again, the decision makers when they see our data, what we have gathered they will believe us more,” he added. Mr. Simmons said he has taken it upon himself to showcase what the Afro-Rock Band, Osibisa, did it all over the world by going around tertiary institutions in the country to hold workshop on their works. He said the group was dedicated to their culture and therefore made it to the top. Mr. Bessa Simons said he did not think after the discussions, things should remain as they were and therefore, suggested the setting up of a committee of both academia and industry players to shift the agenda forward. He pledged the support of the Musicians Union to any such committee in their work. The Executive Director of the National Theatre, Mrs. Amy Frimpong-Appiah, said it would be beneficial to look at areas in the SDGs where the Arts could fit in and find effective ways of meeting those targets. “We have to look at strategic partnerships that will help us make a mark, how can we use the Arts related work to make it beneficial to all of us. We just need to look at those areas to fulfill our part of the goals”, she asked. She said people in the Arts have sat back for too long a time in talking about what could be achieved through the area. Due to this she said, people who work outside the Arts see those in it to be living on a different planet. “The way we think does not seem to connect with anybody in the world. So we need to develop those relationships and educate them on the importance of the Arts”, she stressed. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, who also spoke at the programme, said the University was committed to the partnership and called for the cooperation of all stakeholders. “Knowledge is like a Baobab tree, no one person can embrace it. So even as we think about promoting the Arts and using Arts to promote SDGs, we need the cooperation of all. We need disciplines to come together and also understand how to bring cultures together, and this is why we in UCC think this partnership should be supported”, he said.

The Distance Students Association of Ghana (DESAG) of the College of Distance Education has launched an Endowment and Scholarship Fund to support brilliant but needy students. "Raising our Dreams Higher: A Shared Responsibility", was the theme for the launch, which was held at the College of Distance Education (CoDE) Conference Room. Speaking at the launch, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, commended the leadership of DESAG for the initiative to support underprivileged students of the College. Quoting from Galatians 6:2, which enjoined Christians to bear one another's burden, Prof. Ampiah said the fund would help alleviate the burden of disadvantaged students. He, however, called for transparency and proper modalities for assessing the fund to prevent any doubts amongst students. Prof. Ampiah, who was the guest of honour, advised students of the College not to look down upon distance education. "Even some of the regular students are still being taught through distance. Even though they are face to face students, lecturers meet some of them on a platform which means with the passage of time, we cannot distinguish between distance learning and the regular learning", he noted. The Provost of CoDE, Prof. Isaac Galyuon, lauded the leadership of DESAG for coming out with the Fund to support needy students and called on managers to ensure regional balance in its disbursement. He said the College would award scholarships to the best graduating students at the next congregation. Prof. Galyuon noted that DESAG had made the requisite arrangements through the fees collection to support the Fund. As a result, Prof. Galyuon urged the students to market the Fund to attract public-spirited organisations and benevolent individuals to support it to cater for the needs of more students. He announced that the College would from 2017/2018 recruit some students of CoDE to do their National Service at the College. The National President of DESAG, Mr. Pearson Sablah, said the Fund would initially support 20 students partially for the first academic year. He noted that it was projected that the Fund would support around 100 people in the next five years. Mr. Sablah, therefore, appealed to government, corporate organisations and individuals to support the Fund so as to assist more less privileged students of the College.