Teachers without genuine certificates to stop work

Mamponteng (Ash), Oct. 27, GNA - Mr Andrews Kofi Britwum, Ashanti Regional Director of Education, has asked pupil teachers using other people's result slips and certificates to stop teaching and resign honourably.

He said the Ghana Education Service (GES) would soon call in the police to investigate and any offender caught, would be made to face the full rigours of the law.

This was contained in a speech read on his behalf at the Kwabre District Education Directorate Best Teachers/Workers Award ceremony at Mamponteng on Tuesday.

Mr Britwum appealed to teachers to consider themselves as guidance co-ordinators and help to avert indiscipline in schools, adding, though not angels, as educators and role models, they must try to live exemplary lives.

Mr Anthony Yao Boafor, the District Director of Education urged the teachers to remain committed to their work and continue to serve as role models in the communities they were working.

He expressed concern about the poor attitude of school children who abandon schooling as soon as they were registered as candidates to take the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and called for a concerted efforts to reverse the trend so that many of the children could produce good results in the district.

Mr Boafor said one of the most remarkable achievements of the district directorate was the implementation of the Whole School Development (WSD) and the USAID/QUIPS/CSA programmes, which have helped to ensure quality teaching and learning in the district. Alhaji Ahmed Akwasi Yeboah, Kwabre District Chief Executive, congratulated the out-going District Director of Education for his tireless efforts in managing and administering the affairs of the district education directorate successfully for the past seven years. The DCE observed that a number of teachers go to school late thus depriving pupils of effective use of contact hours and asked the directorate to put in place effective measures to curb this retrogressive phenomenon to ensure quality education in the district. He expressed concern about teenage pregnancy and said according to a report on the 2004 BECE, 15 female candidates, who were absent during the examination were pregnant.

He, therefore, appealed to parents, teachers and all opinion leaders to launch a campaign against pre-marital sex, which impacts negatively on access to education.

Twenty-eight teachers/workers and two basic schools were honoured for their meritorious duties during the past three academic years. They received prizes ranging from colour television sets, gas cookers to ghetto blusters.