August 30, 2016 By Joseph S. Margai
Principal of Port Loko Teachers College, now renamed as Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology (EBKUST), Ahmed Adarkwa Koroma, has said that the institution is currently in good shape.
He made this statement recently in an exclusive interview with this reporter at his office in Port Loko.
Koroma said that almost three years after he took over from his predecessor, he has made tremendous efforts in ensuring the smooth running of the institution, adding that his administration has addressed perennial problems of water and sanitation.
“The administration has put in place clean and safe toilet facility. Tanks of water are placed at strategic positions on campus for the students and lecturers. We have used our internally generated revenue to put in place electricity supply,” he said, adding that they have also installed solar panels that would complement the generator plant that provides electricity to the campus.
He said the campus, which used to be bushy during the rainy season, was now very clean because they hired extra labourers in additional to those employed permanently by the administration.
Koroma disclosed that his administration was currently embarking on infrastructural development, including the construction of a two storey building which is almost complete that would probably be commissioned in December this year.
“All the classrooms and hostels on campus have been renovated and painted. The clinic is equipped and members of staff are working diligently,” he said.
He boasted that no students violence or strike action had taken place under his administration, noting that the former have recently conducted peaceful elections and that the college administration laid the foundation for such to happen.
“The administration has its own part to fulfill and the same thing applies to the lecturers and the students. Together we have been making meaningful contributions to ensuring that we achieve a common goal, which is to gain education for all,” he said.
He said there are two categories of students on campus – conventional and distance learners, noting that conventional students stay on campus while distance learners stay off campus.
A student of the college, Abdul Raman Jalloh, who identified himself as a conventional student, said he was very pleased with what the current administration has achieved so far.
“I did my Teachers Certificate here and I’m now doing my Higher Teachers Certificate. Previously, there used to be students violence and strike action, but over the past three years nothing of such has happened,” he said matter of factly.