The Principal of Accra College of Education, Dr Samuel Awinkene Atintono, says the College’s admission for the 2021/2022 academic year has declined by four per cent.

The decline, he said, was due to inadequate accommodation facilities to contain all qualified applicants.

The Principle said this at the College’s 4th matriculation for Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) programme for the 2021/2022 academic year.

The 2021/2022 B.Ed programme had 400 students admitted, comprising 186 males and 214 females, as against last yearís admission of 417 qualified applicants, with 224 males and 193 females.

Among the new students, 37 would be trained in Early Grade Education, 154 in Primary Education and 209 in Junior High School Education.

The College received 2,021 applicants for the 2021/2022 academic year; out of which 1,705 were qualified.

However, due to limited hostel facilities, the College was able to admit only 400 applicants.

Dr Atintono said they could accommodate only a total of 750 students on campus, adding that, they had to convert some classrooms into accommodation facilities when they started the four-year B.Ed programme in the 2018/2019 academic year.

“Though we wished we could have admitted more, we were guided by the limited availability of space in our hostel facilities,” he stated.

He said the College’s Council had appealed to the Ministry of Education (MoE) to allow it to accommodate some prospective students in hostels outside the campus.

The Principal indicated that the remaining applicants out of the 400 admitted, were transferred to other Colleges of Education that had low enrolment.

Dr Atintono said the MoE had commenced procurement processes to provide the College with additional hostel facilities on campus.

He said they were hopeful that the facilities would be ready next year so they could increase admission.

“When students have excellent grades but cannot gain admission to College, it should be a matter of great concern to all of us. I have been personally pained by a large number of students with excellent grades that we could not admit into any of our programmes.”

The Principal advised the new students to take their studies seriously to become competent and professional teachers.

Mr Bright Bosomtwe, President of the College’s Student Representative Council (SRC), said the accommodation challenge was affecting students on campus.

He urged the new students to be disciplined and law-abiding, saying they should not hesitate to consult their seniors whenever they faced challenges in their stay on campus.

The matriculation ceremony was the fourth since the College started admitting students for the four-year Bachelor of Education in the 2018/2019 academic year.

The College is one of the six Colleges of Education affiliated with the University of Ghana, Legon in 2019.