Ghana's 7 All-Female Teacher Colleges Shape Education

For nearly two centuries, Ghana has been quietly building an educational legacy through colleges dedicated entirely to training women teachers.

Seven Colleges of Education across the country maintain all-female admission policies, a tradition that began when the Basel Mission opened a girls' boarding school in Aburi in 1858. That small school would eventually become one of Ghana's pioneering teacher training institutions for women.

The movement gained momentum in the early 20th century. OLA College of Education in Cape Coast started in 1924 with just six students, established by Catholic Missionary Sisters who needed trained Ghanaian women to teach in their elementary schools. Today, OLA calls itself the first all-female College of Education in sub-Saharan Africa.

St. Monica's College in Mampong has royal roots. Asantehene Nana Agyemang Prempeh I specifically requested an institution of higher learning for women in Ashanti, leading to the college's establishment in 1930. It remains Ghana's only female Anglican College of Education.

The tradition continued growing through the mid-1900s. Holy Child College of Education opened in 1946, St. Louis College started in Kumasi in 1960 as a counterpart to an all-male training college, and St. Teresa's College began in Hohoe in 1961 with 35 students.

Not all these colleges maintained their female-only status without interruption. Agogo Presbyterian Women's College admitted 10 male students in 1976, even temporarily dropping "Women's" from its name. Aburi tried co-education in the early 1960s.

Both experiments ended due to accommodation challenges and other logistical issues. The colleges returned to their original mission of focusing exclusively on training women teachers.

The Ripple Effect

These seven institutions represent more than just educational policy. They reflect decades of intentional investment in women's education at a time when access to higher learning remained limited for girls across much of Africa.

The colleges have produced countless teachers who went on to educate children throughout Ghana's primary and secondary schools. Many graduates moved into leadership roles in education, carrying forward the mission that began in those early missionary schools.

Today, while most Ghanaian Colleges of Education admit both genders, these seven maintain their distinct identity. They stand as working monuments to a specific educational vision: that investing in women's teacher training strengthens entire communities.

The tradition that started with one boarding school in Aburi continues shaping Ghana's educational landscape, one graduating class at a time.

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