Stakeholders urged to improve standards of education
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Samuel Sarpong, has called on teachers and all stakeholders in the educational sector to work hard to improve the standards of education in the country.
Advertisement
He described as unacceptable recent revelation by UNESCO that only 28 per cent of pupils in primary six could read and write, while below 28 per cent could solve basic arithmetic, saying that the situation was an indictment on education stakeholders such as teachers and their supervisors.
The regional minister was addressing over 100 graduands of the Wesley College of Education, Kumasi, at the school’s sixth congregation, held on the theme: ‘Education in Ghana: The basic schoolchild in focus.’
One of the two first-class students, Mr Jerry Donkor, was adjudged the overall best student. He also won the best prize in English Language.
Dr Sarpong said it was important for Ghana to lay a strong foundation in the education sector, especially at the basic level, to enrich the quality of education for the next generation.
He urged the new teachers to help bridge the gap between public and private schools, indicating that gone were the days when it was difficult to differentiate between pupils of the public and private schools because they all performed well at national examinations.
He said every effort must be made to make the structures effective, efficient and functional to address the problem, and re-emphasised the government’s commitment to allocate resources to the education sector to provide more schools and create greater access through the implementation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy.
The Chairman of Council for the college, Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel K. Asante, advised the newly-trained teachers to contribute their quota to the development of education.
The Wesley College of Education was established by the Methodist Church, Ghana, in 1918, to train teachers of high calibre.
