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The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has been urged to make the local culture a significant aspect of Ghanaian education by making cultural ideals, values and principles an integral part of the school�s curriculum instead of western ideals. Professor Stephen Kendie, Director of the Centre for Continuing Education and Inter-disciplinary Research, University of Development Studies, said the education system was still largely western oriented where local cultural issues played second fiddle where students graduated knowing little about their culture and history. Professor Kendie said this at the Third Quadrennial and 50th Upper East Regional Delegates Conference of GNAT in Bolgatanga at the weekend. It was under the theme; �Emerging Challenges in the Teaching Profession in Ghana, The Way Forward�. He said previously established systems of cultural reference were destroyed through the importation of European school works adding; �the adoption of colonial languages and the largely exclusive teaching of European languages, history and culture have been responsible for the cultural dislocations and alienation�, he said. That, he said, would take away from the Ghanaian graduates all feelings of love, sympathy, loyalty and desires to develop their country and rather fill them with the desire to migrate to the foreign lands they had studied for personal gains. Touching on the quality of teachers, Professor Kendie said a survey by GNAT showed that 66.4 per cent of all teachers in the pre-tertiary level needed further education in order to get the minimum requirement to teach. He said majority of the teachers did not have the required knowledge and skills to participate in the education sector, and that could have contributed to one-half of the Junior High School graduates failing in the Basic Education Certificate Examination which would have given them a good chance to progress in their education. Professor Kendie asked GNAT to ensure that her members increased supervision and monitoring of schools to enable all teachers to work efficiently and improve the standard of education in the country. He condemned the act of beating school children saying that it scared them from school. He said: �The classroom ought to be a lively place for teaching and learning. Innovative methods of teaching are there and must be used�. Professor Kendie said money was not always the main source of motivation and that teachers could motivate themselves if they really liked their work. �Most teachers however, get into the profession as a last resort and therefore lack commitment,� he added.