Teachers must desist from using phones during school hours - Municipal Director of Education

Mrs Martha Acquah, the Mfantseman Municipal Director of Education, has called on teachers to desist from using contact hours to engage in social media messaging to the detriment of students' academic work.

"In many schools, there are teachers who spend productive class hours exchanging social media messages to the neglect of the welfare and students' academic work".

Mrs Acquah was speaking at a Town Hall Meeting organised jointly by the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development with the aim to bring local governance to the doorstep of the citizenry.

She described that attitude by some teachers as "romance with social media” which together with infrastructure and logistical constraints were key contributory factors affecting the academic performance of students in the Municipality.

The Director said the inability of some teachers to make good use of their contact hours in schools, including negative attitude towards work and poor supervision among others militated against the quality of education in the area.

She, therefore, urged teachers to be committed to their work and uphold the ethics of the profession to serve as role models for children to emulate.

The Municipal Director of Education reiterated her office's determination to deal with recalcitrant teachers who flouted rules.

She gave the assurance that pragmatic measures were being taken to provide students with all their educational needs to enhance teaching and learning in schools.

She called on parents, traditional leaders and students to cooperate with teachers in the training of children, adding that the focus should not only be on academic performance but moral training to help “children to mature into responsible adults with integrity adding ‘It is about time stakeholders especially parents recognised education as the only tool for national development to provide the needed resources to promote education.

Daasebre Kwebu Ewusi VII, the Omanhen of Abeadze Traditional Area and Vice President of the National House of Chiefs stressed the need for parents to properly supervise their children at home and urged parents to provide children with their basic needs to enable them progress in life.