Lesotho College of Education

The Lesotho College of Education began its life in 1975 under the name of National Teacher Training College (NTTC). UNESCO assisted in the initial planning of the institution. The Government decided to establish this public college to replace three denominational teachers’ colleges, owned by the Roman Catholic Church, the Lesotho Evangelical Church and the Anglican Church of Lesotho. Nevertheless the three churches mentioned above were given representation in the Board of Governors and in the teaching staff of the College: an arrangement that continues today. The NTTC was made a department of the Ministry of Education and therefore operated under the rules and regulations of the civil service. The Government, assisted by many international development partners, provided human and material resources as well as infrastructure that the College needed to operate successfully. The College opened its doors with seventy-eight (78) students under the guidance of twelve (12) local lecturers and five UNESCO advisers. By the 1990s, there were three academic divisions: the Primary, Secondary and In-service Divisions. Until the 1993 the College offered programmes leading to certificates. It developed both pre-service and in-service programmes for primary school teaching and a pre-service programme for secondary school teaching. In the period from 1994 to 2002 the certificate programmes were gradually replaced by diploma programmes of similar duration. In the course of its development the College has received considerable guidance and assistance from the National University of Lesotho (NUL) with which it still has close relationship, while also developing necessary and relevant links with other institutions of higher learning in the region and internationally. On 31stJuly 2002 the College was granted autonomy and renamed the Lesotho College of Education (LCE). Since then the College has had the authority to determine its own programmes and strategic plan and to allocate its own resources internally. It continues to be a public institution, financed by a subvention from the Government of Lesotho. The autonomous College (LCE) reorganised its pre-service academic section into three Faculties and eight Departments. The new Departments contain staff from both the former pre-service Divisions (Primary and Secondary), in the interest of more efficient deployment. The In-Service Division developed into the Distance Teacher Education Programme (DTEP), whose academic staff continues to operate, for most purposes, as a separate unit.