Opoku Prempeh bids teacher unions farewell
The outgoing Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has announced that the government is working on acquiring laptops for all teachers.
The move, he explained, dovetailed into President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s National Digitisation agenda.
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Dr Prempeh expressed the hope that when teachers received their laptops, they would become more comfortable in using technology as a tool in an era where blended education was the norm.
Leadership
Dr Prempeh announced this when he met with the leadership of the pre-tertiary teacher unions, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) to bid them farewell.
Dr Prempeh, who is the Minister-designate for Energy, took the opportunity to thank the teacher unions for their cooperation with the Ministry of Education at various critical decision points during his tenure as Minister of Education.
He said in particular that the unions cooperated with him and his team during the rollout of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) programme in 2017 and its subsequent alterations, the revision of the objective-based curriculum and in bringing teachers up to speed with the new teaching techniques required for the standards-based curriculum.
Teacher reforms
Dr Prempeh also noted that the unions ensured that their members were on board during the Teacher Reforms exercise which encompassed a new curriculum, a phase-out of the diploma course and the agreement with the University of Cape Coast to upgrade diploma holders to degree holders within a relatively short period.
He stated that If he succeeded as Minister of Education, it was partly because those major stakeholders such as teachers, through constant dialogue, made it easier for the government to operate.
Dr Prempeh has been nominated by President Akufo-Addo as Minister of Energy designate, subject to vetting and approval by Parliament.
