Advertisement

Provide schools with basic materials, infrastructure — Onyinah

Provide schools with basic materials, infrastructure — Onyinah

A former Ashanti Regional Director of Education, Mr Joseph Onyinah, has called for the provision of the necessary teaching and learning facilities, which are the pivot on which the wheels of quality education hinges in the country.

According to him, the provision of these basic needs, as well as the provision of the needed infrastructure in schools, could be attained through the collaboration of all stakeholders in the nation’s education with the government to ensure that the right facilities were provided to the teachers and schools, to enhance effective teaching and learning.

The former director stated that without the provision of the right tools, facilities and infrastructure, no amount of motivation or policies could bring about the development of the nation’s education which in the long run impacted on the nation’s economic development in general. 

Mr Onyinah stated this at the 5th quadrennial delegates conference of the Kumasi Metro branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Kumasi. The conference was attended by 169 delegates from 17 zones in the Kumasi Metro, on the theme: “Transforming society through education -Agenda 2030 - The role of the teacher.” 

 

Teacher unions

The former director said teacher unions in the country also had a critical role to play in building a quality force and urged the unions to be involved in continuing professional development for their members and encourage them to work to ensure good results.

The evidence of hard work on the part of the members of the teacher unions he said, could be used as a tool to negotiate for better conditions for their members, and urged management to support in enforcing and improving upon professional standards, adding that the unions should not always be defensive but cooperate with management in sanctioning teachers who misconduct  themselves.

The acting National President of GNAT, Ms Philippa Larsen, for her part, stated that the leadership of GNAT would continue to speak and fight for its members so that they would be provided with the right skills, materials and equipment needed to do their work, so they could work effectively to achieve the best results ever.

 “With the world changing at a very fast pace, there is the need for us to change our way of doing things, for that matter teaching, bearing in mind that we are the pivot around which teaching and transformation revolve,” she added.

 

Retraining teachers

The acting president said although it was the responsibility of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to retrain teachers to sharpen their skills in the country, GNAT, through a collaboration  with Canadian Teachers Federation, had been organising series of workshops for its members for free.

She charged teachers to be curious in acquiring professional knowledge of education framework and curriculum learners, identify gaps in knowledge and go beyond the textbooks to enable them to emphasise the present than the past.

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |