The Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has distributed 100 new laptops to teachers posted to teach in various basic schools in the Effutu Municipality.
The gesture, which formed part of the “One Teacher, One Laptop” initiative, is to support the beneficiary teachers to improve teaching and learning in the area.
The new laptops bring to 2,050, the total number of laptops the MP has given out since the initiative began in 2018.
Personal investment
Handing over the items to beneficiary teachers at Winneba, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the initiative was not charity, but an investment in the very people who invest in “our children”.
He said it was to demonstrate in a very practical way that he had not forgotten the men and women who stood daily in classrooms shaping the “destiny of our nation”.
“The One Teacher, One Laptop initiative is a personal response I undertake when the need genuinely arises and a new batch of teachers posted to our schools come without the tools to plan lessons, input scores and access the Ghana Education Service digital platforms, then we are taking their work backwards.
“When serving teachers reach out and it becomes evident that the gap between their responsibilities and their resources has widened, someone must fill the gap.
“I charge each one of you, therefore, receiving one today to see it as my personal investment in you and to let that investment yield return in the form of better prepared lessons, more efficient record keeping and ultimately improved outcomes for every child under your care,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.
Enhancing productivity
The Minority Leader explained that a contemporary teacher in Effutu having a laptop mattered so much to the modern classroom.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said teachers were no longer in an era where a teacher's toolkit began and ended with chalk, a register and a cane.
“Today’s teacher is expected to make an input and manage continuous assessment scores on GES digital platforms, access and adapt to the evolving standards-based curriculum with its online resource banks, prepare lesson notes, schemes of work and teaching learning materials with speed and precision,” he said.
The Effutu MP compared a teacher without a laptop today to a soldier sent to the front line without a rifle.
“I can ask for excellence, I can demand results, but I owe it to our teachers to first arm them with the instrument that excellence requires.
“A single laptop, properly used, can multiply a teacher's productivity many times over, turning hours of manual repetitive work into minutes and freeing up that most precious resource of all time to actually teach, mentor, and nurture the child in front of them.”
“This is why I consider this initiative not a favour but a strategic contribution to the quality of education in Effutu,” he said.
Appreciation
The Director of Human Resources of the Effutu Education Directorate, Reginald Eduafo Mensah, expressed the directorate’s appreciation to Mr Afenyo-Markin for his generous donation to teachers.
He said such a “thoughtful gesture” was an investment not only in technology but also in the future of children and further appealed to the MP to help renovate the directorate’s centre, which leaked anytime it rained.
“We are also appealing to you to help replace some of our chairs and tables that have also served so faithfully that they deserve retirement with honours,” he said.
