If you can read this, thank a teacher
Every child deserves good education and a promising start in life. Children need schools for learning, desks to write on, books to be used for learning and clothes to wear.
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But without well-qualified, inspiring teachers, a school is just a building; books and clothes are just for show and attendance at school doesn’t translate into good quality education.
Teachers are perhaps one of the greatest professionals on this earth, as they hold the key to a better future for all, inspiring, challenging and empowering innovative and responsible citizens.
Additionally, every day, they help educate children from different backgrounds and needs, mentor and encourage them to be enthused and remain in school and give them a strong start in life.
The world is where it is today principally because of teachers.
Ghana joined the rest of the world yesterday, October 5, to celebrate World Teachers Day, which is a day set aside to celebrate teachers all over the world for their contribution towards the development of humanity.
In Ghana, this year’s celebration was on the theme: “Valuing teachers, improving their status”.
To mark the day, the Ministry of Education rewarded 72 teachers, 10 national service persons, three foreign volunteer teachers, as well as 20 retired teachers, at a ceremony at the Sunyani Jubilee Park for their contribution to education in the country.
The United Nations (UN) World Teachers Day is celebrated on this day to acknowledge the role teachers play in providing quality education at all levels.
The 2016 World Teachers Day Celebration is more significant as it marked the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 International Labour Organisation/United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ILO/UNESCO) Recommendation concerning the status of teachers.
There is, indeed, the need and every reason for all to celebrate our gallant teachers.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, joins hands with UNESCO to buttress the fact that World Teachers Day represents a significant token of the awareness, understanding and appreciation displayed for the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development.
We commend all teachers in Ghana for their hard work under very trying conditions over the years in helping the Ghanaian populace to learn and grow. Without them, all national efforts to ensure an educated populace would have come to nought.
And at a time when we are complaining about the standard of education, especially in public first-cycle schools, teachers also need to appreciate the fact that much is expected of them to salvage the sinking image of education.
For this reason, teachers whose performance fall short of expectation need to soberly reflect on the theme and the strategies developed by the government for the benefit of teachers in particular and education delivery in general, lift their game and work towards the attainment of the needs of future generations.
We say Ayekoo to teachers.
