Teachers in rural areas to receive incentives – Govt

The government of Ghana has announced that teachers who are posted to schools in rural areas will be provided with incentives to motivate them to put in quality work.

This was revealed by Information Minister Mustapha Hamid who added that government was prioritising the welfare of teachers in order not to compromise the quality of education as the Free SHS programme kicks off.

“Our education programme is quite comprehensive in its outlook and not just about access. For example we have a programme called Teachers First and the principle or philosophy is what has restored the trainee teachers’ allowances. We also want to introduce incentive that will attract people to go and teach in the rural areas,” he told Class FM’s Moro Awudu on the Executive Breakfast Show on Wednesday, March 8.

According to him, “when you agree to teach in rural areas, perhaps you get a rural allowance on some incentives better than someone who is in an urban centre so that the rural areas will get the same calibre of teachers in the urban areas”.

He said that the Education Ministry was considering various forms of incentive, including motorbikes, to ease transportation, housing schemes, etc.

The minister emphasised that education remained the priority of government because the human capital is the greatest tool to develop the nation.