Celebrating teachers: Yilo Krobo education directorate honours 24
The Yilo Krobo Municipal Education Directorate in the Eastern Region, as part of this year’s World Teachers Day celebration, honoured 24 teachers for distinguished services last Thursday.
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The awards were in 11 categories and the Overall Best Teacher in the municipality went to Augustina Nagai of Wawase Roman Catholic Junior High School. She took home a double-door fridge.
Francis Nii Okrah of Aketebuor Salvation Army Basic School won in the kindergarten category, Tettey Obloni placed first in the primary division while Alice E. Odzawo was adjudged first in junior high school.
A former Yilo Krobo Municipal Director of Education, Robert Shiadey Narkoli, was rewarded for his meritorious service to the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the nation at large.
The UNESCO in 1994 proclaimed October 5, every year, as the World’s Teachers Day.
This year’s celebration, held on the theme: “The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage,” was sponsored by the VRA Hydro Credit Union and Manya Krobo Rural Bank.
Teacher attrition
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) at Somanya, Prof. Eric Nyarko-Sampson, the guest speaker for the occasion, said data from teacher task force and UNESCO indicated that worldwide, 69 million teachers were needed to achieve the universal education by 2030.
Prof. Nyarko-Sampson noted with concern that teacher shortages were not just a developing world crisis but one being experienced around the world including countries like Australia, China, Estonia, France, Great Britain, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the United States, among others.
Teacher attrition, according to Prof. Nyarko-Sampson, was a major concern facing the profession with serious implications for learning.
He said teacher attrition had many causes including lack of financial incentives, poor working conditions, high workloads, lack of preparation, little autonomy, poor administrative support, poorly designed classrooms, lack of teaching resources and lack of professional development opportunities for teachers.
Teacher in 21st century
He said a teacher was a facilitator of the learning process and the focus of a 21st century teacher was on students/pupils by developing higher order thinking skills, effective communication, collaboration and other skills that they needed in the 21st century and added that, “the teacher must develop new teaching strategies that are radically different.
“No education system can be better than the teachers in it. It is important to take steps to curb teacher attrition at all levels to maintain the best and experienced hands,” he concluded.
The Yilo Krobo Municipal Director of Education, Rev. Peter Attah Bilson, said the education sector, especially the pre-tertiary level, needed committed teachers who had the call for the teaching profession and were transformational who could bring change.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Eric Tetteh, and the Member of Parliament for the area, Albert Tetteh Nyarkotey, graced the occasion.
