ABOUT THE ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION COLLEGE (VETERINARY COLLEGE)

    

The Animal Health Production College (Veterinary College), one of the six (6) Agricultural colleges in Ghana, and the only Veterinary College. The colleges are owned and run by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (except the Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture), a government ministry focused on the growth and development of the Agricultural sector so that Ghana can increase food security, reduce poverty, increase employment and increase the contribution of Agriculture to the overall GDP of the country.

The Veterinary College was established in the 1922 in Tamale, Northern Ghana, by the British colonial administration to increase the health of livestock in what was then the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, in 1925, the school was closed due to funding shortfalls. In 1960, the college was rebuilt in Pong-Tamale and reopened thanks to funds provided by the United States.
   

                               PROGRAMMES OFFERED IN THE COLLEGE 

The College offers a 2 year certificate with 1 year field attachment and a 3 year diploma programme, either on Field Animal Health or Veterinary Laboratory Techniques. Graduates with a certificate or diploma in Animal Health will specialize in the education of livestock owners and the field treatment of livestock and pets while Veterinary Lab Techs will work in Vet Labs focusing on research of diseases, vaccinations, post-mortems, diagnosis and treatment of animal diseases. Students are graduating into a job market where there is a shortage of trained veterinary technicians and an increased need due to a government push for food security and increased protein consumption. Unfortunately, the government is unable to hire a significant percentage of the new graduates coming out of the college, which means that these graduates will be required to startup businesses or join private veterinary clinics in order to make a living.

                                                       THE COLLEGE CAMPUS

The campus sprawls over a huge open grassy area, and includes an administration block, a kitchen and dining hall, 3 classrooms, a library, and a laboratory instruction room and many acres of unused land. The students are housed on campus in 3 dormitories, 2 for the boys and 1 for the girls. Each dormitory has a landlord (student in charge) and a house name, similar to in Harry Potter where the different houses compete during fun events.

               The College’s Animal Clinic which is currently not in use because of lack of equipment. 

              This is the path leading from the campus to the village, alongside is the college soccer park.

                              This is the path leading from the village to the boys dormitory

                                  This is the path which leads to the ladies dormitory

 The Principal’s office is the small part on the left that sticks out, and the long part of the building on the right side is the Anatomy lab classroom. In the back on the right is a lecture hall, and the block on the left is the Administration block.

 This is the hatchery at the college farm. This incubator was built by a British company and was donated by a German aid organization in the 1970s. It has the capacity to hatch 20,000 eggs every 30 days, which provides a huge revenue to the college when its functional. Unfortunately the machine has been down since early summer because of a broken relay and a non-functional heater.

  

                                                                    THE STAFF

The college has an administration composed of the Acting Principal Dr. Bempong, the Vice-Principal Dr. Essel, the office administrator Mr. Baba, and the college farm manager Madame Faustina, Mr. Wumbei and Mr. Kapuya. The college has a small core teaching staff and some temporary lecturers to fill any gaps that exist, but there is still a lack of teachers so as a result the Vice Principal and the Acting Principal both have to teach a few courses.

 Dr. Eric O. Bempong is the Principal since 2009. He's from the South of Ghana and obtained his doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in Russia. He is an extremely hard working and driven man, whose dream is to get the college to become a fully accredited university. He's very progressive about gender roles and has made it one of his missions to continue to increase female enrolment while he is the at the college. Furthermore, Dr. Bempong is fully engaged with the idea of entrepreneurship as a path out of poverty for Ghana and has helped drive many initiatives that will transform the students from job seekers into job creators.

 Dr.Daniel Essel Cobbina is the Vice-Principal of the college and is also from the South of Ghana. He received his doctorate for Veterinary Medicine in Cuba.

 Madame Faustina is also a former graduate from the college, and spent some years doing extension work before upgrading her education and coming to the Veterinary College where she is now the College Farm Manager and a lecturer. She manages the farm activities which includes many acres of maize farm and some livestock, as well as an out of commission fowl hatchery all of which are a source of internally generated income for the college. She's the only woman in the core staff, and she is highly trusted by the Acting Principal.

                                                                    


                                                                  MISSION

The mission of the college is to train Veterinary Technicians, Veterinary Assistants and Veterinary Lab. Technicians, in order to improve upon the livestock production of our nation.

                                                             
                                                                    VISSION

To upgrade the college into a University by 2016, and also to start a running a Degree in Veterinary Nursing progamme.


Photos are kind courtesy of : http://jblechtaewb.wordpress.com/