Brief History

The Department of Basic Education was accredited in the 2000/2001 academic year and started operation during the 2001/2002 academic year with close to 400 students. The pioneer students were picked from the existing departments which had met their admission quotas. In those days, admissions were done via entrance examinations. The department was the first to run the dual sessions of Primary and Junior High School which were later merged to give one programme as B.Ed. Basic Education. This was because the Department was poised on producing broad-based trained teachers capable of teaching effectively at both the Primary and Junior High School levels.

Administratively, Prof. J. K. Aboagye was the pioneer head of the department with Mr. Godwin Akpah as the Administrator. Rev. Boateng Enninful, Dr. Kodwo Tali, Dr Ernest Ngmawara, Dr. Kofi Asonaba Addison, Mr. Kweku Esiah-Donkoh, Dr. Mrs Sakina Acquah and Mr. Nixon Saba Adzifome were other Senior members who at one time or the other headed the department.

The founding lecturers of the department were Prof. J. K. Aboagye, Mr. George Attah-Boison, and Mr. Asonaba Kofi Addison. Mr. Ahmed Amihere and Mr. Charles Annobil served as Teaching Assistants at the department at the time. Due to the insufficient number of lecturers, the department sourced lecturers from other departments within the University and also from the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast to handle various courses. Later, Mr. M. A. K. Essel, Mr. Hans Kweku Wiaboh and Mr. Robert A. Ghanney also joined the department as permanent staff. As the years went by, other lecturers joined the department and others also retired but currently the department boasts of twenty-one (21) lecturers of various ranks and qualifications.

The department was first housed in the present admissions office of the College of Distance and E-Learning (CODeL) of the University. It was later moved to the Old Pavilion which is currently the Publishing House of the University. After the completion of the Faculty of Education Studies block, the department was relocated to faculty. There are plans underway to move the department to a new location.