Atwima-Nwabiagya district holds best teacher awards

Nkawie (Ash), July 30, GNA - The government has so far spent more than GH=A2300,000 (three billion cedis) to feed 12,000 pupils in 21 out of 78 schools in the Atwima-Nwabiagya district of Ashanti. Mr Thomas Ofori-Donkor, District Chief Executive for the area, said the district received more than GH=A2160,000 (1.6 billion cedis) as part of its share of the capitation grant.

He was speaking at this year's best teachers and non-teaching staff awards ceremony for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years at Nkawie. In all, 31 teachers and non-teaching staff were presented with refrigerators, colour television sets, foam mattresses and certificates. The event was sponsored by the district assembly at the cost of GH=A210,000 (100 million cedis) with support from six other institutions.

Mr Ofori-Donkor announced that 4,000 dual desks and 100 teachers' chairs have been distributed to basic schools in the district. The DCE said the assembly, in collaboration with the various school communities, had built classroom blocks to accommodate the increasing enrolment in the schools, following introduction of the School Feeding Programme and the capitation grant.

He asked teachers to sacrifice and offer the best to the nation. Mrs Belinda Serwaa Addo, Ashanti Regional Director of Education, noted that the provision of quality education in the fast changing world of science and technology was vital for the production of well-balanced skills and values that would propel Ghana to achieve its vision of attaining a middle-income status.

One of three key areas of the country's growth, she observed, was human resource development, which could promote rapid socio-economic growth.

Mrs Addo urged teachers to take advantage of the various training programmes, including the Untrained Teacher Trainee Diploma Education (UTTDE), the "Top Up" sandwich course and the distant education programmes for certificated 'A' teachers to upgrade their knowledge and professional skills.

She tasked basic school authorities to ensure that school-going age children were retained in schools to enable the education sector achieve its 100 per cent completion rate for both males and females by 2015.