Nana Akufo Addo has told a teeming audience of party faithful in Accra that the posted success rate of students who went through the 4-year senior high school programme, in relation to the 3-year arrangement, shows that the former is better than the latter.
He was speaking during the inauguration and swearing-in ceremony of the executive officers of the Accra College of Education and the Institute of Professional Studies branches of the Tertiary Education Confederacy of the New Patriotic Party in Accra yesterday. It was under the theme ‘Putting Our Teachers First.’
He pointed out that “it would appear for instance that the controversy over the 3 or 4-year SHS period is being settled by the data so far established which indicates that the results for the 4-year course are unsurprisingly much better than those of the 3-year course as evidenced in the West Africa Schools Certificate Examinations (WASSE) results this year.”
Even if it was natural for a sensitive issue such as education to be the subject of impassioned political debate, he said, “We should ensure that as much as possible decisions on educational policy are informed not just by political dogma but, more importantly, by reliable data and objective technical input.”
Nana Akufo Addo disclosed that the country was facing a teacher deficit of 45,000, an increase from the 10,000 figure in 2000, according to experts, and demanded that something be done to reverse the worrying trend.
If Ghana’s dream of transforming and modernizing her economy was to become a reality and for her to become a player in the global market, he said, “we must get our educational policies right”.
Lamenting the plight of today’s teacher, he recalled what the situation was some 50years ago, saying, “Our society respected and honoured teachers. To be introduced anywhere as a teacher came with enormous prestige. Fifty years ago, being a teacher, even a pupil teacher, was a respectable and fulfilling job. A teacher could build a two-bedroom house for himself and his family through his salary alone. Can you imagine such a scenario for today’s newly-qualified teacher or even teachers who are near retirement?”
“The fundamental premise of the society of aspirations and opportunities we seek to build,” he said, “is that every child will have the opportunity to acquire the requisite skills and tools to survive and prosper in a free and open society”.
Education, he said, should be accorded the highest priority in the scale of the nation’s planned activities. This, he explained, “means we ought to have adequate programmes and mechanisms designed to train youngsters to acquire basic functional skills to hold down a job and to survive and improve in life”.
Many teachers, he noted, felt frustrated, excluded, misunderstood, and undermined, and that government did not listen to them enough. He added, “Yet teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions. Thus, to look after the interest of the over 200,000 teachers in Ghana now is to look after the future interest of our nation.”
Nana Akufo Addo gave a hint about his humble beginnings when he told his audience that “I myself started school in a public elementary school, Rowe Road Government School, Kinbu, yet because of the quality instruction I received at that tender age, I was able to compete with English children when I had the opportunity to continue my studies abroad.”
Continuing, he said, “Many of our doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects and even politicians today have succeeded in life because of the solid teaching they received in their formative years in every part of the country.”
Nana Addo left the large turnout of party faithful doubtless about his desire to take education to new heights when he assumes the reins of power, with his presentation.
It is perhaps his umpteenth presentation regarding his desire to improve the lots of teachers in the country.