Fides Media Living the Faith
. . . Seeks Help on Distressed College Road
By Jude Atupulazi
The Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze, Anambra State, Dr Tessy Okoli, has commended the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for her various interventions in tertiary institutions across the country, noting that such interventions have helped to bridge the funding gap and reposition benefitting tertiary institutions.
The Provost gave the commendation during an interactive session with journalists shortly after the matriculation ceremony of the College held recently. The College had at the matriculation formally admitted 2000 students into the NCE, CEP, Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) and degree programme.
While administering the matriculation vow, the Registrar of the College, Sir Augustine Udensi, urged the students to abide by the rules and regulations of the institution.
Speaking to newsmen, Okoli said the various TETFund interventions in institutions had helped to alleviate the problems of infrastructure and encouraged massive staff development and training. According to her, TETFund had become a lifeline to benefiting institutions, addressing challenges of dearth of manpower, infrastructure and teaching facilities in public tertiary institutions.
Okoli explained that her appointment as the first internal Provost of the College was an opportunity to explore the huge potentials in the institution, and as well address the peculiar challenges crippling the system.
The Provost promised that the College would continue to provide unhindered access to tertiary education to students seeking admission into NCE and degree programmes. According to her, thousands of students seeking admission into universities every year were often turned down because of the limited carrying capacity of these institutions.
Okoli said the College would not neglect her core mandate, which, she said, was the NCE. According to her, over 1000 students were admitted into the NCE programme for the new academic session.
She expressed her determination to make the College a centre of excellence and explained that the College had state-of-art facilities, including a well- equipped CBT centre, Micro Teaching Lab, Virtual Library, with over 10 million e-book resource, among others.
‘Our College library is rated among the largest of all the tertiary institutions in the Southeast Geopolitical Zone. Our goal is to make this institution a centre of excellence,’ she said.
The Provost said the dilapidated state of access road to the College had become a constant source of worry to the institution and appealed to the Federal Government and the Government of Anambra State for help.
‘The Anambra State Governor, Dr Willie Obiano, did a palliative work on the road before the last general elections. During the last Convocation, Governor Obiano promised to reconstruct the road and provide a 32-seater Coaster bus to the College. We pray that the amiable Governor, who is also a Fellow of this College, would fulfil these promises,’ she stated.
She further appealed to other philanthropists in Anambra State and the entire Southeast, including senators, federal and state lawmakers, educationists, captains of industry and corporate organizations, to take up legacy projects in the College and immortalize their names.