The teacher is the key to economic transformation - Lecturer
Mr John Kwamena Amos, Lecturer at the Department of Civil Engineering at the Takoradi Technical University, has called on teachers to discharge their duties with positive knowledge, attitudes and skills to the learners.
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He said professional and dedicated teachers were the ones who were punctual to all school activities, honest, patient, resourceful, disciplined, possessed a good sense of humour, firm and fair in decision making, establishes good relationships with learners, colleagues and parents at large.
"These and many more are the core qualities of a good teacher in helping to transform children in his or her care and building a better society at large”.
Mr Amos said this at the fifth Quadrennial of the 52nd delegates’ conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) within the Shama Ahanta East Metropolis of the Western Region.
He said the transformation agenda of Ghana was a collective one which meant that all hands are needed on deck to move the country forward.
Mr Amos said teachers must not only teach the content of their syllabus but also endeavor to teach important life lessons for the advancement of society.
“The school must not become a place of learning academically but also a place for social integration, mentorship and role modeling for the future generation, adding that the teacher’s role in the whole process was insurmountable", he said.
Mr Amos said such attitudes would in turn encourage students to work hard, achieve greater academic laurels and the skills needed for increased productivity for national transformation.
He said the teacher was cardinal in the country’s quest to win the battle against illiteracy, ignorance, under-development and poverty adding, these issues are tackled through the teacher’s role of motivating students to learn, maintaining discipline and creating the conducive environment for students to thrive.
Mr Amos said, “If a teacher is attracted to money or other things, such teachers could leak exam papers, falsify results and engage in other professional misconduct…politicians produced from these institutions will be greedy, deceitful and dishonest and architects will design buildings that will collapse on their occupants...engineers will continue to fall and we will experience flooding and draught, “This is the power of teacher transformation.
Mr Amos called on government to take a sincere look at teacher remuneration at all levels of education, ensure adequate funding of education and over interference in the education system by politicians to achieve the needed transformation.
Nana Kofi Mbeah, Former Metropolitan Director of Education, called for periodic training to enhance the knowledge of the teacher for him to stay abreast with modern pedagogy.
“Leadership must meet the challenges, strategize and improve on the existing conditions, he said.
