By Garba M. Muhammad
In view of the giant strides he has made in the College of Education, Gindiri, in the last two years, Prof. Cletus Gotan has earned an extension of his tenure as the Sole Administrator of the institution by six months, an office he has held since 14th June 2018 to 14th June 2020.
The extension of the Provost’s appointment from the Plateau State Government by six months is with effect from 14th June 2020.
Since the emergence of Prof. Gotan as the Acting Provost of the College in 2018, according to sources familiar with the development, he has succeeded in restoring peace on the campus and has also secured full accreditation in both institutional and academic programmes for the school.
“The College under Prof. Gotangained approval to commence six new academic departments to include Computer Science Education, Early Childhood Care Education, Creative and Cultural Arts, Theatre Arts, Political Science and Technical Education.
“College of Education, Gindiri has gained affiliation with ABU Zaria to commence Degree Programmes in nine courses; the University had since come for Resource Verification,” one of the sources said.
The source added that under the Gotan-led administration, the institution had a successful convocation of six sets of students, accessed a lot of TETFUND intervention and renovation of offices and classes for conducive learning environment.
The college’s Acting Librarian, Mr. Joseph Andong told EDUCATION MONITOR that immediately after Prof. Gotan took over as the head of the institution, the library got a new outlook.
“In no distant time, the library was partitioned and four sections were made functional to include Document Section, E-Library Section, Reference Section and Serials Section; the library was repainted; the e-library was resuscitated courtesy of TETFUND; frequent meetings were held at both Sectional and General level; newly acquired books were processed; the Documents Section was made functional; some casual staff were engaged.
“Other successes recorded were building up photo-history of past College Librarians from inception; accessing TETFUND interventions for library development; injecting the spirit of hard work among staff; resuscitation of a functional Library Welfare Scheme; making sure that staff development is enhanced,” Mr. Andong who has worked with the College Library for the past 24 years said.
He further added that, “Prof. Gotan’s love for the library cannot be quantified.
“Apart from giving approvals for both partitioning and repainting of the Library, he had equally given approvals for the purchase of relevant books and equipment required to make the library functional and attractive to the teaming users of the Library.
“He couldn’t have achieved this much without the altruistic support of the College’s Acting Registrar, Chief David Z. Fabong, Acting Bursar, Dr. Geoffrey G. Merji and the Acting Director of Works, Engr. John D. Sambo,” he concluded.