Twenty-four Atwima best teachers win awards

Nyinahin (Ash), March 23, GNA - The Atwima-Mponua Rural Bank has provided 40 million cedis to sponsor brilliant but needy basic and secondary school students especially females in the Atwima District. Mr Eddy Obeng-Darko, the Atwima-Nwabiagya District Director of Education, said the Nwabiagya Rural Bank has also for the past three years spent over 200 million cedis to provide infrastructure and other facilities at the Barekese Secondary School and also donated two table top refrigerators towards the best teachers' award.

Mr Obeng-Darko, who also has over-sight responsibility over Atwima-Mponua district, was speaking at the district's annual best teachers' award ceremony at Nyinahin.

Jointly sponsored by the Atwima-Nwabiagya and Atwima-Mponua district assemblies and Nwabiagya Rural Bank, 24 hard working and dedicated teachers and non-teaching staff were honoured and awarded with various items worth over 23 million cedis.

The items included double deck refrigerators, colour television sets, table top refrigerators, gas cookers and their cylinders, mattresses, wheel barrows, pick axes and shovels.

Madam Margaret Henewaah of Toase District Assembly Junior Secondary School received the over-all best teacher award of a double-decker refrigerator worth over three million cedis. Mr Obeng-Darko said the institution of the awards scheme had motivated the teachers to improve on the academic standard of the district.

The district placed 15th in the 2004 Basic Education Certificate Examination as against 24 the previous year.

Mr Charles Yeboah, the acting Atwima-Nwabiagya District Chief Executive, said development could only take place in an educated and literate society and stressed the commitment of the government to enhance quality education in the country.

In 2004, he said, the assembly supplied 820 dual desks to the some needy basic schools.

Nana Owusu Djan Duodu, Kyidomhene of Nyinahin, advised teachers to take advantage of the distant education programme to improve upon their professional and academic competency.