Navrongo (U/E), July 19, GNA – The Ghana
National Association Teachers (GNAT) has called on the government to prioritise
policies that would improve the quality of education at the basic level.
The Association said for the country to
produce the skilled and quality human resources to contribute effectively to
the development of the nation, government should implement the right policies
geared towards strengthening the education of the children at the foundation,
especially at the basic levels of education.
Ms Gifty Apanbil, the Deputy General Secretary
of Education and Professional Development of GNAT who said this on behalf of
the Association said “we entreat government to give serious support to the
foundation stage of education, that is, from Kindergarten to primary by
ensuring the provision of child friendly infrastructure, qualified teachers,
the supply of the right teaching and learning materials and the establishment
of an incentive package for teachers to attract qualified and dedicated
teachers to this sector”.
Ms Apanbil was speaking in Navrongo in the
Upper East Region at the climax of teachers training workshop organised by the
Association in collaboration with the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF).
The week-long in-service training programme
aimed at improving the teaching techniques of teachers and introducing them to
innovative ways of improving quality education brought together 311 teachers
including; 110 females and 201 males from the Primary, Junior High and Senior
High Schools in the Upper East and Upper West Regions.
The 56th workshop garnered stakeholders in the
educational sector including; the Ghana Education Service, Mr Rockson Bukari,
the Upper East Regional Minister, retired educationists among others.
The Deputy General Secretary lamented the
current educational structure and said it did not offer practical base
knowledge to the pupils and students and called for stakeholder dialogue to
device modalities to ensure total development of the children.
“As a country we need to set our education
priorities right. At the moment our education is for certification rather than
for the total development of the child.
“The Ghana Education Service needs to widen
the assessment criteria for accessing learning outcomes of our students to
include; practical skills. This will help to unearth the talents of every child
and to prevent exclusion of children who are not academically good.” Ms Apanbil
added.
Mr Kwame Ofori-Atta, the Deputy General
Secretary of GNAT in charge of Finance stressed the need for government to
incorporate quality into its long term development plans to achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly goal four which addresses
quality education for all by 2030.
He further advocated a revisit of the
educational curricula, especially at the basic level to focus more attention on
agricultural science to attract the youth into the sector to improve
productivity and ensure food security and a resilient economy.
The Regional Minister who commended GNAT and
CTF for their efforts to improve the performance of teachers in the two regions
stated that the programme was in line with government’s plans to provide
professional license to teachers to improve academic work.
He disclosed that plans were far advanced to
ensure that teachers were given the necessary training to produce quality human
resources needed for the development of the country.
The participants were taken through basic
school administration, improved teaching skills of the core subjects and gender
issues, teacher promotion among others.
They were also awarded certificates for
participating.
GNA