EXTEND ELECTRICITY TO SCHOOLS IN AHAFO-ANO (PAGE 22)

THE Ahafo-Ano North District Secretariat of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called for the extension of electricity to schools in the district to facilitate the teaching and learning of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
In a resolution passed at the end of the third quadrennial delegates’ conference of the district GNAT at Tepa, the association said most schools in the district lacked electricity, saying that the situation was disincentive to the promotion of ICT education.
The resolution also called for the downward review of income tax on teachers’ salaries, stressing that the value of the salaries had been eroded by excessive income tax.
It also called on the government to commit a “good part” of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to build teachers’ quarters in the communities to serve as motivation for teachers.
The teachers urged the Ghana Education Service to provide pre-teaching training for newly trained and untrained teachers before they took up posts in the communities.
According to the association, that would prepare the new teachers to appreciate the challenges ahead of them in their new positions.
Speaking at the meeting, which was on the theme: “Teacher as a pivot of national development; professional and socio-economic challenges”, the headmaster of Men Model Basic School, Nana Frank Agyedabi, said the teacher should be a role model for his or her students.
He said the teacher, as a pivot of national development, was so crucial that “we need to strive to attain and maintain quality in our role as teachers”.
The District Director of Education, Ms Nannan Abudu, in a welcoming address, observed that education was the hope of the nation and it was important that the sector was given all the necessary attention.
She expressed concern that for the past four years, the district Best Teachers Award had not been organised in the district.
The District GNAT Secretary, Mr George Gyimah, said teachers played a very important part in educational development and as such, their roles should be recognised through motivational packages.