Policy makers have been urged to always factor the remuneration of teachers into their policies on how to improve the quality of education to make such policies more successful and sustainable.
The Provost of the College of Art and Social Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Dr Dr Daniel Buor, who said this, noted that it was only when teachers were adequately motivated that Colleges of Education would attract the best brains who would not regard the teaching profession as a stepping stone to more lucrative jobs.
“Colleges of Education should not be the dumping grounds for applicants with poor grades. Applicants must not see the Colleges of Education as stepping stones to land into universities. Entry into Colleges of Education should be by choice, rather than convenience, and to achieve such goals and make entry into the colleges attractive would require enhancement of conditions of service in the Ghana Education Service,” he stressed.
He explained that if we failed to motivate and invest in teachers by providing them with the requisite incentives, remuneration, logistics and facilities that would enhance quality delivery of services, “we should expect a hollow training of students which will be detrimental to the realisation of educational goals”.
Professor Dr Dr Buor gave the advice during the combined 12th, 13th and 14th Ashanti Regional Best Teacher Awards ceremony which took place at the Kumasi Anglican Senior High School.
The Best Teacher Awards in the region was suspended in 2006 due to inadequate financial resources to sponsor it.
In all, about 70 teachers in the region were recognised for their tremendous contribution towards quality delivery of academic work and they received items such as refrigerators, colour television sets, and gas cookers, among others.
Prof. Dr Dr Buor, who was the guest speaker, pointed out that educational policies and programmes “however sophisticated, flamboyant and vivacious, would not achieve their goals without the effective operation of the teacher”.
Prof. Dr Dr Buor also stated that it was equally important for educational policy makers to institute effective monitoring and supervisory mechanisms to check punctuality, teaching methods, quantum of assignments, marking assignments, as well as scrutinising teachers’ attitudes and moral behaviour.
These, he said, would go a long way to maintain high standards of education in the country, explaining that “human nature is such that he behaves recklessly if he realises that no one is watching”.
In his welcoming address, the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, Mr Joseph Kwabena Onyinah, said the lack of respect for teachers and lack of appreciation for their work in several communities in the country “account significantly for the general malaise in the teaching profession”.
“The difference between the teacher of yesteryear and the teacher of today is that the former was respected as a person, and his work deeply appreciated by both pupils and parents.”
He pointed out that in spite of the many deprivations and difficulties under which teachers worked on daily basis, there are many quality teachers “whose outstanding performance have held high the banner of quality education in Ghana and such teachers need to be recognised to ginger them to continue working hard”.
He said the search for trained quality teachers to raise the standard of education had never been greater or more urgent than now.
He said it was based on this that the Best Teacher Award had been recognised to motivate teachers to be more committed to their chosen profession.
Mr Onyinah, therefore, advised teachers to apply their professional knowledge and skills “to create a psychological environment that makes teaching and learning a pleasure and not drudgery for themselves and their students”.
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