Policy analyst and education advocate, Kofi Asare, has raised concerns over government’s plan to establish a new College of Education in Ezinlibo in the Jomoro Municipality.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he questioned the policy justification for the move, citing existing capacity challenges and an oversupply of trained teachers.
“What’s the policy justification for establishing a CoE in Jomoro Municipal:
When Jomoro Municipal shares a border with Aowin Municipal, where Enchi CoE operates at 30% below capacity due to the 2022 admission caps imposed by MoE, and where abandoned and uncompleted projects limit capacity?
When there are already four (4) CoEs in the traditional Western Region producing education graduates?
When University of Cape Coast distance learning centres in the Western Region are also producing teachers?
When the existing 46 public CoEs, together with University of Cape Coast, University of Education Winneba, University of Ghana, and University for Development Studies, are producing twice the number of teacher graduates required annually, with over 60,000 licensed teachers unemployed since 2023?”
He further argued that the proposed project lacks alignment with current educational needs and fiscal realities.
“Project Ezinlibo is strategically misaligned and lacks empirical justification based on current teacher supply, institutional capacity, and regional educational needs data.
For a sector running a financing gap of GH₵16 billion annually, this proposal struggles to meet the minimum threshold for prioritised spending.
Do not light a new fire when the old one still burns,” he added, citing a Larteh proverb.
