Students from the Department of Basic Education, of the Faculty of Education Foundations, University of Cape Coast (UCC) have embarked on a day’s education exhibition to showcase their knowledge and skills acquired in the fields of Basic Education and Early Childhood Education. The annual event, which is mostly held in the second semester of the academic year was heavily patronised by staff and students of the University and members of the Cape Coast community, who walked through the exhibition stands in amazement. In all, 400 Students studying the courses, ‘Creative Art, Music and Drama’, ‘Development of Instructional Materials’ and ‘Play and Integrated Curriculum’, took part in the exhibition. This year’s exhibition showcased over 200 Teaching and Learning Aids made from a variety of materials, Learning Centres set-up designs and art works produced by the students in levels 100, 200 and 300. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Awo Sarpong, Lecturer and exhibition coordinator said the focus of the exhibition was to offer students the opportunity to showcase acquired knowledge and skills in their respective courses of study. Dr Sarpong said the exhibition also formed part of the Department’s agenda to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the Cape Coast metropolis, through its ‘Cape Coast Basic Schools Development Partnerships programme’ – a community service of the Department, which, in addition to a number of other education support services donates free Teaching Aids to its partner schools and under-privileged schools in Cape Coast. These include: UCC Kindergarten and Primary, Apewosika, Kwaprow and the University Interdenominational Schools, Jacob Wilson Sey school, Imam Khomeini school, and others. All the materials exhibited will be distributed to the respective schools in a ceremony to be held in June.

Old Students of Commonwealth Hall-University of Ghana (Old Vandals Association), Central Region branch, have made donation to the Children’s Ward of the University Health Services (DUHS). Led by their President; Dr. Levi Yafetto, the Association donated items including pieces of baby teddy bears and play toys, as part of their objective to create enabling environment for children as they go through healing at the hospital. Receiving the items, the Director of DUHS, Dr. Evans Ekanem expressed sincere appreciation for the kind donation. The Ward In-Charge, Mrs. Charity Acquah thanked the Association for the gesture, and pledged to maintain the items well for the benefit of every child in the Ward. She further hoped for more kind donations from well-meaning individuals and groups to enhance the Facility’s agenda of making the Children’s Ward feel as home. Present at the presentation were the Health Services Administrator; Mr. Atta Yeboah-Sarpong and the Nurse Manager; Mr. Thomas Tamag,

The Chairman of the International Youth Fellowship (IYF) in charge of West Africa, Rev. Hee Jin Park, has advised lecturers and members of the teaching fraternity to refrain from the usage of negative words on their students. According to him, negative words lower the spirit of students and prevent them from taking bold steps in their lives. Rev. Park gave the advice at a presentation organised by IYF Chapter of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) at the Institute of Education Conference Room on the theme “Power of Words in Mindset Education”. Rev. Park admonished members of the teaching fraternity not to use offensive words such as “fool, you can’t do it, stupid, irritated,” among others, as a panacea for correcting incorrigible or average students. He noted that the usage of such impulsive and unprintable words had the tendency to kill individual initiative and creativity to be productive, self-reliant and prosperous. Instead, he encouraged lecturers to use positive and considerate words to give life to despondent students in their class. He urged lecturers to reciprocate the good works of their students with words like “wonderful job, you are nice, angel, thank you, you can do it” among others. That, Rev. Park added, would serve as an inspiration to their students to work hard to achieve their goals and aspirations in life. He demonstrated to the audience to use a campaign dubbed “3.3.3 Campaign” where they held the hands of those sitting beside them to demonstrate how they can inspire their dispirited family members and say three positive words to spur them on. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, expressed gratitude to Rev. Park for his presentation and urged lecturers to demonstrate unalloyed love towards low-spirited students. He added that gender issues should be critical in the development of mindset education. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor called on Rev. Park and his team to consider setting up a chair on Leadership Mindset Education in the University. He advised the public to disabuse their minds from the negative impression about technical and vocational education in Ghana. International Youth Fellowship (IYF) is a global youth organisation, founded on Christian principles by prominent people from different walks of life, determined to solve youth problems.

The Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) has organised a fair for its students to share their research findings, innovation and creativity with members of the University Community at the third Expo 2017. The annual event, held at the ground floor of CELT, was on the theme “Promoting Students’ Creativity and Innovation”. Students – reading Contemporary Issues in Higher Education and Students’ Personnel Services – conducted visitors round their poster presentations, sharing with them their findings and recommendations during their interactions with their study population. The post-graduate students grouped into five had their project studies on “Graduate Assistantship, Empowering Floor Representatives in the Residence Halls, Conducive Environment for Differently Abled People, Special Students Population on Campus, and Academic Advice”. All the students, however, conducted studies on “Support a School Child Project,” a flagship project of the IEPA, in the adjoining communities of the University. In a remark, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, who was the Special Guest, lauded the IEPA for sustaining the EXPO initiative, which began in 2015. He said all over the world, dissemination of research findings were being skewed towards poster presentation in most academic institutions and commended the University, which hitherto frowned on poster presentation, for embracing such techniques in teaching and learning. Prof. Oduro noted that poster presentation in disseminating research findings help students to exercise their skills, as compared to power point and oral presentations.The Pro-Vice-Chancellor urged the IEPA to showcase the EXPO to other members of the public outside the University in order to for them to be abreast of their project studies. The Provost of the College of Education Studies, Prof Magnus Wilmot, advised the researchers not to be judgmental, but rather be objective with their research. That, according to him, would help their findings, recommendations and innovations stand the test of time. The Co-ordinator for the EXPO, Dr. Micheal Boakye Yiadom, said the exercise formed part of innovation in assessing students’ work for the End-of-Semester examinations. He observed that the idea of the EXPO was to come out with recommendations for management to adopt and implement for the betterment of the University. He added that some offices in the University had approached the Institute to tap ideas from some of their project works. Accompanying the Pro-Vice-Chancellor were the Registrar, Mr. John Nyan and the Director of Academic Affairs, Mr. Jeff Teye Onyame. The programme was chaired by the Director of the IEPA, Dr. Rosemary Bosu.