World Teachers' Day launched in Accra

Accra, Sept. 28, GNA - Mrs Portia Molly Anafo, Acting President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), on Tuesday said GNAT would again present school uniforms, school bags and other learning materials to 20 selected needy pupils from the Upper West Region during the celebration of this year's World Teachers Day.

Ms Anafo said this when she launched activities for the Day that comes off at Wa on October 5, 2004 and which would be ushered in with the third GNAT week celebration on September 30 at Hohoe in the Volta Region.

She also launched a new website for GNAT - www.ghanateachers.org - expected to improve the Association's communication network with members, development partners and other institutions.

She said the recent slash in the level of negotiated salaries for public servants was most distasteful and expressed the hope that the Presidential Commission appointed to look at the pension arrangements of workers including teachers would come out with a satisfactory pension scheme.

"We should take a critical look at the working conditions of Teachers, these in addition to the school environment should be improved so as to best promote effective learning and enable teachers to concentrate on their professional task," she said.

Mrs Anafo said in order to improve the image and prestige of the teaching profession rigorous training programmes that made extensive use of research work should be put in place.

She said if Government had been absorbing tuition fees in public universities, then the same should apply to distance education programmes being run by the Universities of Cape Coast and Winneba. She called for new approaches to the organisation of career structures and Teacher evaluation, adding: "We need to support creativity and innovation as well as encourage teaching personnel to constantly improve themselves."

She proposed that an award be instituted at the district level for schools that exhibited the highest level of environmental cleanliness and the respective district assemblies should sponsor awareness of conservation policies.

She pledged GNAT's support to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to help it find a solution to the problems of the Service.