Teachers Asked To Be Committed To Their Profession

Mr Maxwell Blagogee, Deputy Volta Regional Minister has emphasized the role teachers play in national development and asked them to show commitment to the profession.

He described teachers as “seed sowers” and said it was regrettable the profession was being used as a stepping stone to other jobs.

Mr Blagogee, in a speech read on his behalf at a durbar to climax the Seventh Student Representative Council (SRC) Week celebrations of Akatsi College Education in the Volta Region said the unfortunate development was a major cause of poor academic performance in the country.

He said the nation’s future depended on teachers, who were the core of the educational system and asked them to develop a high sense of professionalism and commitment to their studies and impact same in students.

“The continuous socio-economic development and transformation of this country would depend on a qualitative and formidable team of professional teachers, who are capable of transforming the development landscape of the country and moving it to a higher middle-income status”, Mr Blagogee stated.

He reassured that government was “leaving no stone unturned in making the teaching profession an enviable one” and that Colleges of Education were being assessed in line with the planned upgrade of the certificate from Diploma to a Degree in Education.

Ms Philippa Larsen, Acting President, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) said teacher education must become a “central focus” of the Education Ministry, adding that the professionals needed to be retained through motivations and better conditions of service.

She urged teacher trainees to “sharpen” their skills and be dedicated to duty, to enable them train students to be “functionally literate and to make the best choices in life”.

Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Former Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary Education and Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency said students formed a significant majority in society and charged SRCs to play active roles in national policy deliberations and research, especially on education.

He advised trainee teachers against their planned picketing over the feeding grant and said plans were far advanced to address that and other issues facing teaching professionals.

Mr Miracle Malm, SRC President of the institution lamented the delay in the renovation of three cubicles at the female dormitory which were destroyed in a recent fire outbreak and said the students were temporarily lodging in a staff bungalow.

He appealed for the reinstatement of the feeding grant, the provision of curriculum materials, as well as the procurement of a 70-seater bus for the school.

Mr Malm said the dining hall of the 1,200 population school doubled as an assembly hall and appealed to stakeholders and other benevolent organisations to help the institution construct a befitting auditorium.