Celebrations as St Vincent College of Education, Yendi, opens its doors to teacher trainees More than 3000 people turned out recently to attend the were recruited from Year 12 graduates who had passed long-awaited official opening of St Vincent College of tertiary entrance examinations with good scores and Education, Yendi, in – a celebration that marks the had also passed the College’s internal entrance exams in beginning of a new era in teacher education for schools in English, Science and Maths. The 14 lecturers for the new the local area. College also attended as well as 37 non-teaching staff and other distinguished guests. Readers of Society Matters will be familiar with the project, which was featured in a previous issue. The official Among the guests was the Overlord of Dagbon, His opening was a joyful time not only for the local people Majesty Kampakuya Na, royal regent of all the inhabitants but for the Divine Word Missionaries, together with of Yendi Municipality and of the whole Dagbon people Catholic Mission in the Archdiocese of Perth, and other (the traditional tribe of people of Yendi, which extends benefactors who worked with the Catholic Diocese of across the entire of Ghana). The Yendi to help build the rural teacher training college. Overlord and his people donated the plot of land on which the College sits. Principal of the College, Fr Erasmus Norviewu-Mortty SVD, says the College has already taken in its first The people of Yendi and its neighbouring villages and students, who will hopefully graduate in three years and towns also attended, in their thousands, along with be guaranteed a job teaching in the local schools. government officials and Bishop Vincent Sowah Boi-Nai SVD, with a strong delegation of priests, religious brothers “We express our gratitude to God that our dream is and sisters from the Yendi Dicoese. being realised this soon, in such a successful way, with the support of the entire Yendi community, the Ghana Following official speeches, Bishop Boi-Nai blessed the Government, other Churches, and above all, with the buildings with Holy Water and prayed for God’s blessing continuous, unflinching support of our Aussie friends from on the College its teachers and future students. inside and outside the Catholic Church,” Fr Erasmus says. Fr Erasmus says the College wasted no time in getting “This dream, which is on the way to being fully realised, underway with teacher training, with the students will come to fruition when our first graduates begin to attending lectures even before the official opening. teach in some village schools come October 2019 to “Most students come from the rural villages of Yendi and January, 2020.” its surrounding districts and towns,” he says. Fr Erasmus says the official opening of the College was a “Others come from across the country, from the South joyful celebration, held on Saturday, April 2. Eastern and South Western regions, as well as from the It was attended by all 200 of the new teacher trainees who major cities of Ghana, including , and Tamale.”

Volume 26 No. 3 | Spring 2016 4