About Foso College of Education
Foso College of Education is a preferred institution among the committee of Colleges for the training of teachers, mainly for basic schools in Ghana. It was incorporated as a co-educational teacher training college by the first republican administration of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah on the 15th of November, 1965 under the headship of Mr. R. R. Essah.
In its forty-seven years of existence, FOSCO (as the College is affectionately called by its numerous patrons and stakeholders) has had the dispensation and concession to pilot every major pre-tertiary and now quasi-tertiary teacher training programmes in Ghana. Some of them are the following:
2-Year Post-Middle Cert. ‘B’
2-Year Post-‘B’ Cert. ‘A’
4-Year Post-Middle Cert. ‘A’
2-Year Post-Sec Cert. ‘A’
2-Year Post-‘A’ Specialist Programme in Agric. Sci.
3-Year Post-Sec Specialist Programme in Math., Science and Agric. Sci
2-Year Modular Programme for Untrained teachers
2-Year Post-Modular Cert. ‘A’
3-Year Post-Sec Cert. ‘A’
3-Year Diploma in Basic Education
4-Year Untrained Teachers Diploma in Basic Education
The college has been headed by the following since its establishment
Mr. R. R. Essah 1965 – 1975
Mr. E. A. Graham 1975 – 1780
Mr. E. O. Gyarteng 1980 – 1988
Rev. Bruce Asare 1988 – 1991
Mr. M. A. Kwofie 1991 – 1996
Mr. J. S. Ocran 1996 – 1999
Mr. J. B. K. Mensah 1999 – 2010
Mr. S. K. Baidoo 2010 – 2011 (Acting Principal)
Dr. Nana Kwaku Asiedu (Current Principal)
Under the tutelage of the University of Cape Coast, the College has been running Diploma in Basic Education Programmes since the year 2005, for which certificate of accreditation was obtained in September, 2007. In line with its motto: ‘Character, Wisdom, Knowledge’, the College has a vision which propels it to endeavour to become a centre of academic excellence, intellectual brilliance and professional competence for training quality teachers whose orientation is holistic and consistent with societal and national aspirations and development.
The College is situated on a land area of one square kilometer, off the Cape Coast – Kumasi highway at the southern outskirts of Assin Foso. FOSCO is therefore centrally positioned between four major universities; University of Cape Coast (1 hour drive), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (2 hours drive), University of Education, Winneba (2 hours drive), and University of Ghana, Legon (2.5 hours drive). This situation offers opportunities for research, exchange of ideas, experiences and other forms of collaborations with these institutions of higher learning, thereby creating conducive environment for exploring knowledge.
Currently, the College can boast of 52 teaching and 57 non-teaching staff who are competently handling almost 900 students. All the 54 teaching staff, have completed either the course work or graduated in a post-graduate programme.
Residential facilities accommodate 37 teaching staff, 5 non-teaching staff, and a total of 600 levels 100 & 200 regular students.The College has academic facilities such as classrooms, departmental offices, science laboratories, computer laboratories and a library which greatly facilitate academic work.
As a College that believes in holistic development and nurturing of high caliber of teachers, FOSCO intermingle academic work with character training through allied activities, role-modeling and mentorship. Strong, positive religious and cultural values as well as talent development are rigorously enforced.
Again, FOSCO has an enviable record of academic performance among the committee of Colleges. It is one of only three Colleges of Education in Ghana to record First Class Honors for the first time ever since the inception of the Diploma in Basic Education Programme in basic teacher training.
These and many other unique attributes place FOSCO in a pedigree that makes it ‘first among equals’