Background of Colleges

After  the  enactment  of the   Polytechnic  Act  in  2001,  the  Freetown Teachers  College presently operates  on  the  principles  of the  Act.  Under the act,  the  Freetown  Teachers College  and  the Government Technical Institute  (GTI)  Kissy Dockyard are mandated to form a merger called the Freetown Polytechnic with a main campus at Kossoh Town and a sub campus at Kissy Dockyard.  In a bid to form this merger, the two institutions have met and developed  modalities in accordance with the act.

BACKGROUND: College of Education and Applied Sciences (Freetown Teachers College)

Freetown Teachers College was  founded on the  9th  November,  1964 with the joint support of the Ministry of Education Science and Technology and the Anglican Mission. The College was  housed at the  Bishop’s Court on Fourah Bay Road to share facilities with the  Bishop Johnson Memorial Secondary School under the Principal-ship of Mr. Benjamin King who was succeeded by Mr.  U.  S. A Kargbo.  The operations  of the  two institutions of different nature and   focus  posed   many   constraints  on  the   college.  Considering  these   constraints,  the Principal,  Mr.  U.  S.  A  Kargbo advocated for the  relocation  of the  college  on  a separate campus. This was  approved by Government and  the  college  was  to be  relocated at Kissy Dockyard  near Fisheries  Company.  This could  not materialize  under the  leadership  of Mr. U.  S. A Kargbo.

Freetown Teachers College (Prior to Forming the Polytechnic)

In  1981, the  new  Principal  Dr.  D.  B.  Kargbo  and  the  College  Council  saw  that the  land advocated for by the  former  Principal  Mr.  U.  S. A Kargbo  at Kissy  Dockyard was  too  small for a college  and  appealed  to the  Ministry  of Lands  to identify another place.  The present site  of 100 acres at Kossoh  Town was  provided  for the  college.  The college was  then  built on this site by the World Bank under the IDA project.

In 1996, under the  headship of Mr. S.  P.  Sorie, the  college was  relocated to its new  site at Kossoh Town,  19 kilometers  away from the heart of the  city.   It is a non-residential college for both staff and students.

The philosophy behind the  establishment of this  College in  the Western Area was to serve as  an  in-service  college  catering for the  need  of unqualified primary school  teachers to acquire certificate in teacher education – Teachers Certificate (TC).

Since its  inception up  to  1990 the  college  offered only  the  T.C  programme.  In  1990 the Higher Teachers Certificate Primary (HTCP) programme was  introduced and  in 1996 the Higher Teachers Certificate Secondary (HTCS)  was  also  introduced. A  Practicing Primary School was  attached to the  College on the  16th September 1996 with classes  ranging from Nursery I, II and III to classes  1 to 6

BACKGROUND: Institute of Technology and Management (Government Technical Institute)

[Coming soon]