Distance Education Is Cost-Effective: Prof Agyeman

Asokore (E/R) The chairman of the National Distance Education Council, Professor Dominic Kofi Agyeman, has said the implementation of the distance education programme holds great prospects for teacher education in the 21st century and beyond. Speaking at the 35th anniversary speech and prize-giving day of the Seventh-Day Adventist Training College at Asokore, near Koforidua yesterday, he said both the nation and teacher trainees stand to benefit form the many advantages of the programme. Some of the advantages, he said, included cost- effectiveness, access to tertiary teacher education for trainees in every part of the country and opportunity for trainees to learn on-the-job at their own time and pace without interrupting their teaching work. Prof. Agyeman who is also head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Cape Coast, announced that the University college of Education at Winneba, would soon cease to admit certificated teachers for on-campus training to the diploma level. He said the programme would be replaced by the school-based in- service training system supported by distance education. He cautioned that in spite of all its advantages, distance education would not be a panacea for all the problems of the teaching profession.