From Samuel Agbewode
The management of the Hohoe Midwifery Training School has assured Ghanaians of making the institution a centre of excellence in the training of reproductive health professionals in Ghana and the West Africa sub-region, as it marked its 40th Anniversary at Hohoe.
The Hohoe Midwifery Training School, which started in 1972 with 15 students, now has a total population of 306, and was strategic at the time to help serve the maternal health needs of the people in the region and beyond.
Mrs. Regina Asare was the first Principle of the school, and was described by many of the past students as someone who exhibited a high level of professionalism in the discharge of her duties.
The current Principal of the school, Ms. Narki Doku, in giving an account of her stewardship, commended past principals for the sound foundation laid for academic activities that contributed to the turning out of 1,862 dedicated midwives serving in various capacities in health care delivery in the country.
Ms. Doku explained that as a result of hard work and determination, the school was accredited by the National Accreditation Board as a tertiary institution and affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to run a three year Diploma programme, instead of the two and a half year certificate programme.
The Principal stressed that the school was unique because the three year Diploma programme in Midwifery was designed in such a way that it would not be enough for students to pass their academic examinations, but also demonstrate competence and skills in performing the standards required in employment in both practical and theory, before the diploma and licensing certificates would be awarded.
Ms. Doku, who has earned the nickname “Madam Disciplinarian” by students, pointed out that discipline was very high, because it was the hallmark of success of any training institution.
She, however, said as a human institution, the school authorities still encountered some in undisciplined acts such as truancy, absenteeism and non-compliance with school rules and regulations.
The school also topped the 2011 first Diploma group in Midwifery nationwide, with 87.5 percent in the Licensing Examination.
The Principal was, however, not satisfied with the recent performance of the school, noting that in 2013 the school performed abysmally in the licensing examination with 30.6 percent, which she explained was not peculiar to the Hohoe Midwifery School alone, but a nationwide problem that prompted a survey by the regulatory bod,y which came out that non-commitment on the part of students, teacher absenteeism and lack of motivation for tutors as contributory factors to the poor performance.
Ms. Doku continued that intensifying discipline and promoting high academic performance among students, led to the establishment of a Chaplaincy, a Counseling Unit, as well as disciplinary committee to deal with social, moral and deviant behaviours among students, and which were likely to affect their performance.
She noted that disciplinary measures put in place by the school authorities had yielded positive results, because it scored 91.7 percent in the March 2014 licensing examination, placing 4th on the performance league table of the nation.
She further and called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders and well meaning Ghanaians to bring sanity into health training institutions, so as to produce highly competent professionals with the right attitude to work.
The Hohoe Midwifery Training School Principal observed that even though the school performed creditably, it also faced infrastructural challenges such as inadequate classrooms, staff accommodation, and lack of an auditorium complex where academic, social and other important school functions would be organised.
Ms. Doku explained that the infrastructure problem confronting the school was one of the major concerns of the authorities, because the school had to move to other educational institutions in the Hohoe township to write its external examinations, which posed challenges and frustrations to both management and the students.
The Volta Regional Director of Health Service, Dr. Joseph Teye- Nuertey, commended the Principal and staff for their hard work and dedication to duty which resulted in the creditable performance of the school.
Dr. Teye-Nuertey entreated health training institutions to endeavour to prioritise student discipline, because churning out numbers of health workers was good, but installing the right attitudes and work ethics in them was far more critical.
He proposed to health training institutions to make effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), including the use of virtual libraries, teleconferencing and customised software.
The Volta Regional Minister, Madam Helen Adwoa Ntoso, who lauded the efforts of the management and staff of the school, noted that as the population of the country grew, coupled with increases in the health needs of society, there was the need for the country to properly and adequately train health personnel to be commensurate with the population expansion.