By Gracian Jeke

Mzuzu, Mana:  Bishop for the Mzuzu Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, John Ryan has called on government to recruit primary school teachers who continue to graduate from public and private Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) in the country.

Ryan was speaking when he presided over the first graduation ceremony of Initial Professional Teachers Education (IPTE 16)teachers’ cohort at Theodora Van Rossum Teachers Training College in Mzimba.

Ryan said as the church contributes towards training of teachers, it was his wish to see graduates from various training colleges being absorbed into the mainstream civil service and begin to provide the much needed service to the nation.

“Our efforts are geared at building a pool of well-trained primary school teachers so that once employed we can reduce the learner-teacher ratio which currently leaves a lot to be desired if we are to achieve provision of quality education in the country,” said Ryan.

Chief Education Officer for Mzimba North, Pauper Mkandawire commended the graduates for their dedication to studies and exceptional hard work during teaching practices.

He said “reports from schools where they were sent to work as teacher trainees indicate that they portrayed a spirit of hard work, dedication and commitment to fulfilling tasks, a thing that suggests they could quickly turn into valuable assets to the education sector once employed”.

On his part, Principal for the college, Joseph Sandamira admired the graduates’ perseverance throughout the training period as the college remains challenged with problems ranging from accessibility to meagre availability of social services.

“On top of intermittent power and water supply which are main concerns, the institution also suffers from bad roads that limit its access and poor mobile phone connectivity which renders this place disconnected from the rest of society. However, despite all that, these students defied the temptations to give up on their studies until they have graduated,” Sandamira said.

One of the graduates, Patricia Katumbi said she is excited to have completed the teaching course and echoed the call to government to recruit the graduates.

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