Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong

The Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong, is a co-educational teacher-training college in Akropong in the Akwapim North district of the Eastern Region of Ghana.[1][2] It has gone through a series of previous names, including the Presbyterian Training College, the Scottish Mission Teacher Training College, and the Basel Mission Seminary.[3] The college is affiliated to the University of Education, Winneba.[4]

Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong
Location
P. O. Box 27, Akropong-Akuapem

Eastern Region

Akropong
,
E20004

Ghana
Coordinates5.98050°N 0.09046°W / 5.98050; -0.09046
Information
Former names
  • Basel Mission Seminary, Akropong
  • Scottish Mission Teacher Training College
  • Presbyterian Training College, Akropong
TypeCo-educational Teacher-training College
Religious affiliation(s)Reformed Protestant
DenominationPresbyterian
Established3 July 1848 (1848-07-03)
FounderBasel Mission
School districtAkwapim North Municipality
OversightGhana Education Service
PrincipalSamuel Yeboah Antwi
Campus typeResidential suburban setting

History

The first institution of higher education in Ghana, it was founded by the Basel Mission as the Basel Mission Seminary on 3 July 1848 and fondly referred to as the ‘Mother of Our Schools’.[5] The college was the first institution of higher learning to be established to train teacher-catechists for the eventual Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast.[6][7] The college is the second oldest higher educational institution in early modern West Africa after Sierra Leone’s Fourah Bay College, founded in 1827.[6] For more than 50 years, it remained the only teacher training institution in the then Gold Coast. It is affiliated to the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.[6][8][9][10] The idea to establish the college was motivated by the ideals of 18th century Württemberg Pietism inspired by German theologians Philipp Spener and August Hermann Francke.[6] The Basel Missionaries who originated mainly from Switzerland and Germany established the college.[5] In the course of the one hundred and sixty years of its existence, the college has run different academic programmes and different curricula have been followed, all tailored to suit the demands of the various times.

These ideals emphasised a combination of spirituality with transformation of life through the practicality of Christian teachings.[6] This feature distinguished the Basel Mission from Anglican and Methodist missionary societies such as the Church Missionary Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Wesleyan Methodist Mission Society which were more doctrinal in their approach to evangelism.[6]

Starting with an enrollment figure of 5 students in 1848, the college now has a student population of 1,268. The Presbyterian College of Education launched its 160th Anniversary in July 2008. The college has the tradition of celebrating renowned achievements on milestone occasions: Thousands of highly skilled and exceptionally disciplined educationists have passed out of the college, and have contributed immensely to the development of Ghana not only as teachers, but also as economists, politicians, lawyers, bankers, industrialists, journalists and clergymen. The college contributed to the staffing of the University of Ghana when it was established in 1948. Over eighty percent of the Moderators of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (including the present E.P. Moderator) were trained at P.T.C.[5]

The first principal of the college was the Basel missionary, the Rev. Johannes Christian Dieterle.[11] A similar teacher-catechist seminary at Christiansborg, started by the German missionary and philologist, Johannes Zimmermann in 1852, was eventually merged into the Akropong college years later in 1856 to become a single entity.[12][11] In 1864, the Basel missionary and builder, Fritz Ramseyer, who became a captive of the Asante between 1869 and 1874 and pioneered mission work in the Ashanti territories, arrived on the Gold Coast for the first time to assist the mission in its structural work, completing the construction of the seminary buildings at Akropong.[13][14][15]

According to the British historian of missions, Andrew Walls, the catechist-teacher education model adopted by the Basel Mission, was an innovation of the Church Missionary Society pioneered by the Anglican vicar, Henry Venn "as a sort of lower, unordained missionary" - "a subaltern role to facilitate the spread of the Gospel." [7] The original curriculum included a five-year course in the methods in pedagogy, education, theology and Christian catechism. In popular culture, the school is dubbed, the Mother of our Schools.[6] It was the only teacher-training college on the Gold Coast for more than half-a-century producing educators for the needs of the community and the Presbyterian Church.[8][9][10] The college now offers diplomas and degrees in education, pedagogy and related subjects. The college participated in the DFID-funded Transforming Teacher Education and Learning programme, Ghana (T-TEL) programme.[16][17] It is one of the about 40 public colleges of education in Ghana.[16][18]

Today
The Centenary Chapel at Presbyterian College of Education Akropong

It is now a fully-fledged public institution with the Ghana Education Service system under the auspices of the Government of Ghana. Initially, the plan was to upgrade the college to a university but that idea was abandoned after the church founded the Presbyterian University College in 1998.[6][8][9][10]

The curriculum now includes general education requirements tailored to the demands of a developing country. The school was established five years after the Basel Mission started the country's first primary school in 1843. The Basel Mission, and later the Presbyterian Church of Ghana also led pioneering efforts in establishing hundreds of primary and secondary schools and teacher-training colleges.[6][8][9][10]

Education

The college started with a five-year teacher's certificate course and later run programmes which included the Cert ‘A’ 4-year course, 2-year Cert ‘B’ the 2-year Post ‘B’, 2-year Post-Secondary, 3-year Post Secondary and 2-year Specialist course in Science, Agriculture and Special Education, The college runs a three-year Diploma in Basic Education programme which started in 2004. It is among the fifteen Science designated colleges in the country.

The Presbyterian College of Education has several programmes[19]

Programmes offered
  1. Vocational & Technical Skills
  2. Languages
  3. Science
  4. Education Studies
  5. Mathematics & ICT
  6. Social Sciences
  7. Communication skills

List of Principals
No. Period Name
1 1848 – 1851 The Rev. Johann Christian Dieterle
2 1852 – 1857 The Rev. Johann Georg Widmann
3 1868 – 1877 The Rev. Johann Adam Mader
4 1878 – 1888 The Rev. Johannes Mueller
5 1889 – 1890 The Rev. David Eisenschmidt
6 1891 – 1905 The Rev. Bahasar Groh
7 1906 – 1909 The Rev. Wilhelm Jakob Rottmann
8 1909 – 1911 The Rev. Immanuel Bellon
9 1912 – 1917 The Rev. Dr. Gustav Jehle
10 1920 – 1926 The Rev. William G. Murray
11 1926 – 1937 The Rev. William Ferguson
12 1937 – 1947 Mr. Douglas Benzies
13 1949 – 1957 The Rev. J. S. Malloch
14 1958 – 1962 The Rev. Dr. J. Noel Smith
15 1963 – 1965 The Rev. E. A. Asamoa
16 1965 – 1971 The Rev. H. T. Dako
17 1971 – 1974 The Rev. L. S. G. Agyemfra
18 1973 – 1978 The Rev. S. K. Aboa
19 1979 – 1987 The Rev. S. A. Ofosuhene
20 1987 – 1993 Mr. Ofori Boahene
21 1994 – 1996 The Rev. K. Agyin-Birikorang
22 1997 – 1999 The Rev. S. K. Mensah
23 1999 – 2010 Mr. Emmanuel Kingsley Osei

Notable faculty and staff

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. Robert, Kumi (2021-12-02). "Presbyterian College Of Education 2022/2023". Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  2. Series (2023-05-25). "Presbyterian Training College". Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  3. Robert, Kumi (2021-12-02). "Presbyterian College Of Education 2022/2023". Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  4. "Presbyterian College of Education (Akropong Akuapem) - T-TEL". www.t-tel.org. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
  5. "Learning Hub - T-TEL". www.t-tel.org. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  6. "Presby - PTC COLLEGE OF EDUCATION". Presby. Archived from the original on 2018-06-05. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
  7. Kwakye, Abraham Nana Opare (2018). "Returning African Christians in Mission to the Gold Coast". Studies in World Christianity. Edinburgh University Press. 24 (1): 25–45. doi:10.3366/swc.2018.0203.
  8. "Presby College of Education gets new Principal". Modern Ghana. Archived from the original on 2017-11-25. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  9. "About PUCG | Presbyterian University College, Ghana". www.presbyuniversity.edu.gh. Archived from the original on 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  10. "Presbyterian College of Education (Akropong Akuapem) - T-TEL". www.t-tel.org. Archived from the original on 2015-12-25. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  11. "The Basel Mission bi-centenary celebration (1815 - 2015):…Origin, Heritage, Birth of Presbyterian Church Of Ghana - The Ghanaian Times". www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh. Archived from the original on 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  12. Sill, Ulrike (2010). Encounters in Quest of Christian Womanhood: The Basel Mission in Pre- and Early Colonial Ghana. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004188884. Archived from the original on 2017-03-30.
  13. Knispel, Martin and Kwakye, Nana Opare (2006). Pioneers of the Faith: Biographical Studies from Ghanaian Church History. Accra: Akuapem Presbytery Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. Schweizer, Peter Alexander (2000). Survivors on the Gold Coast: The Basel Missionaries in Colonial Ghana. Smartline Pub. ISBN 9789988600013. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  15. Asamoah-Prah, Rexford Kwesi (2011). The Contribution of Ramseyer to the Development of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Asante (PDF). Kumasi: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. p. 56. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  16. "Atlas of the Colleges of Education Ghana - Bjoern Hassler's website". bjohas.de. Archived from the original on 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  17. "Our network". Transforming Teacher Education and Learning, Ghana. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  18. National Accreditation Board, Ghana - Public Colleges of Education Archived 2016-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  19. "History". Presby. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
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