20,000 Teachers To Be Trained

The government has allocated an amount of ?1,420.22 billion to the Ministry of Education for the 2001 fiscal year.

Of the figure an amount of ?413.8 million has been provided for the girl child to conduct science, technology and mathematics education (STME) programmes at the senior secondary school (SSS) level.

Another ?6.41 billion has been provided to support girl child education programs in the primary schools.

These were contained in a Budget Statement presented to parliament last Friday by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo.

He said Basic Education will continue to be a major priority of the government and the FCUBE Programme will be sustained whereas delivery of quality education will serve as a platform for enrolment enhancement in schools.

Mr. Osafo Maafo declared that emphasis will be placed on enhancement programmes aimed at bridging the gap between rural and urban sections of society.

He gave the Programme of activities to be pursued during the fiscal year as organization of community participation in education delivery, school inspection, in-service training for teachers, provision of teaching and learning materials and provision of incentives for teachers.

He stated that in pursuance of quality teaching and learning under the FCUBE Programme, a Whole School Development (WSD) concept has been designed to improve classroom environment and management.

The Finance Minister observed that in time with the WSD concept, teachers are being exposed to current methodologies and skills to improve on children's literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills. He said under this Programme, 20,000 teachers at the basic level will be trained this year.

According to the Minister, a total of ?47 billion has been provided to improve facilities in Basic Schools throughout the country and another ?21 billion has been allocated to improve and expand the existing senior secondary schools to provide placement for the increasing number of JSS products.

He said in accordance with the government's policy of decentralization, 60 districts have been completely decentralized and are being assisted with District Education Planning Teams and the remaining 50 districts will be covered in due course.