Education Ministry trains 31,000 teachers in ICT

In an effort to empower teachers for better performance, the Ministry of Education has selected 31,000 teachers from across the country to undergo training in the use of ICT for teaching.

The Ministry had also facilitated the training of 700 basic and senior high school teachers in mathematics to sharpen their skills and to make the teaching of the subject easier for students.

Mr Alex Kyeremeh, Deputy Minister of Education, In charge of Pre-Tertiary, announced this during the launch of the 2015 edition of the Best Teachers Awards and the first ever National Best School Awards on Tuesday.

Mr Kyeremeh, who is also the Chairman of the Planning Committee, said the Ministry had also trained 250 science teachers and laboratory assistants, as well as embarked on a project to distribute 30,000 laptops to teachers.

He said the main purpose of the two award schemes was to award excellence, professionalism and the dedication of both teaching and non-teaching staff of the Ghana Education Service for quality education delivery.

He said hitherto, the nation only celebrated the National Best Teachers Award, which is marked on October 5, annually to coincide with the celebration of the World Teachers Day, but had to include the celebration of the Best School Awards to motivate public basic and senior high schools to do well by churning out good students.

“In our quest to motivate and recognise the work of teachers as a team in education delivery, the celebration of the Best Teachers Awards has been repackaged into the National Best School and Teachers Awards to ensure that the school as a whole is also recognized,” he said.

Mr Kyeremeh said the total number of teachers and schools to be awarded this year is 412 at the national level, 360 at the regional level and 3,312 at the district level, and called on all corporate entities to assist the Ministry with sponsorship towards the success of the award schemes.

He said the schools and the teachers to be rewarded at the national level would be those who had pulled through both the district and the regional levels, adding that the Ministry had already constituted a committee to do the screening and the selection of possible winners.

He said this year’s celebration would be marked in Tamale, adding that teachers who would win awards would be those who ensured cleanliness as well as good teaching spirit.

The criteria for the selection of the best schools include schools which churn out good students.