Education is the bedrock of national development, for which reason every government devotes a major portion of its budget to the sector.
As the maxim goes: If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Certainly, education is very expensive, but not costly, because the option of ignorance, if society fails to invest in the people, is costly, destructive and counter-productive.
We know that the national conversation on education has always centred on how to reverse its downward trend.
Inadequate budgetary allocation to the sector, poor infrastructure, lack of teacher motivation, parental irresponsibility, indiscipline among teachers and students and poor supervision have been identified as some of the root causes of the falling standard of education.
Gone are the days when the teacher, the student and the entire community stood in awe of school inspectors whose unannounced visits to schools sent shivers down the spines of lazy teachers and students.
Although there are circuit supervisors all over the country and an inspectorate board has been established, supervision in our public schools is anything but satisfactory.
Many things have since changed in our society. Teacher recognition is on the low side from the authorities and the people, resulting in low morale among the “knights of the chalk”.
Other factors, such as the high cost of living, poor conditions of service, deteriorating facilities in schools and lack of commitment among teachers, have combined to make the teaching profession unattractive to many young people.
This is why the celebration of World Teachers Day continues to receive government support, and on such occasions deserving teachers are rewarded for their meritorious services to the sector and the nation.
This year’s celebration focused attention on the theme, “A call for teachers: Teachers take the lead for quality education”.
In societies where education has succeeded in providing the necessary manpower for development, the authorities have not relegated the teacher to the background.
But such an enterprise must be a collective one. All the stakeholders in education must put their shoulders to the wheel in order to halt the decline in education.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, appeals to the government, the educational authorities, teachers, students, parents, the religious bodies and the communities at large to team up to restore education to its glorious days when the teacher was the role model in society and those who benefitted from quality education used their knowledge to advance the cause of humanity.
The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, said it all at this year’s World Teachers Day when he declared, “As the government contributes its quota towards your welfare, we also expect reciprocity by working very hard, thereby taking the lead for quality education.”
The high rate of absenteeism among teachers that has been captured in a study by the World Bank can only stop if they are made to earn their income through hard work.
The Daily Graphic uses the platform to congratulate Mr Simon Jude Yifaa of the Nana Amoakwah Model School at Damang in the Prestea-Huni Valley District in the Western Region on emerging this year’s National Best Teacher despite the challenges.
To other award winners, we say “Ayekoo”.
It is our hope that the teachers awards scheme will continue to motivate teachers to put in their best for Mother Ghana.
