Teachers call for improved service conditions

Suhum (E/R), Nov. 7, GNA- The Headmaster of the Suhum Presbyterian Senior Secondary School, Mr Samuel Foli has advocated the payment of additional duty allowance to teachers similar to what is paid to health personnel.

Speaking at the celebration of the World Teachers Day in the Suhum/Kraboa/Coaltar District organised by the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) at Suhum on Thursday, he explained that teachers had to send class-work home after normal school hours and spend long hours preparing their notes and also preparing for classes the next day.

Mr Foli stated that even though teachers over-worked, they were underpaid and not appreciated by society.

He called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to institute incentive package including car loans for teachers who accept postings to rural areas.

Mr. Emmanuel Acquaye, Director of Basic Education said the Suhum/Kraboah/Coaltar District placed 94 out of the 110 Districts in the country in terms of academic performance in this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

He said only 42.69 per cent of the total number of pupils presented to the examination had aggregates six to 30 to qualify for the Senior Secondary School (SSS).

Mr. Acquaye, therefore, called on teachers in the district to put in more efforts to help change the trend.

The Eastern Regional Director of Education, Mrs Ewurabena Ahwoi, called on teachers to make their schools child-friendly to encourage the children to develop the love for going to school.

The District Chief Executive, Mr. Michael Kofi Mensah, called on teachers to use the Day to take stock of what they have done to improve upon the development of education in the district.

He said the District Assembly had spent over 50 per cent of it's development budget on education while the HIPC Fund and the GETfund was spent on the construction of five Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) and four Primary School blocks in the District respectively at a total cost of over 2.8 billion cedis.

Mr. Mensah said the Assembly and the GES had provided a number of mono and dual desks to many of the schools and also rehabilitated some schools while the Assembly had provided scholarships for brilliant but needy children.

The Assembly in addition had supported a number of teacher trainees for them to come back to teach in the district.