BRONG AHAFO TEACHERS BUILD CAPACITY (PAGE 11)

A Total of 189 senior and junior high school teachers selected from schools in the Brong Ahafo Region have undergone a five-day in-service workshop under the collaboration of Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT).
It was the last in a series of such workshops lined up for selected teachers in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Brong Ahafo regions for this year, of which 600 teachers and educational administrators were expected to benefit.
The participants were taken through Leadership and Administration in Senior High School (SHS), Leadership and Administration in Basic School, English Language for SHS, Mathematics for SHS, Science for JHS, Mathematics for JHS, French for JHS, Basic Design and Technology for JHS, Mathematics and Science for Female Basic School Teachers, as well as Primary Mathematics and Science.
Apart from deepening the knowledge and understanding of the participants in the subject areas, the objective of the workshop was also meant to sharpen their teaching strategies and offer them an opportunity to reflect on their commitments as educators to their pupils, students, parents and other relevant publics.
At the closing ceremony, Mr John Nyoagbe, the Deputy General Secretary of GNAT who was also the Course Co-ordinator, noted that with the global economic recession, there had been signs of the education sector budget being reduced in certain cases to less than 50 per cent this year of the 2008 level.
However, he said an observation of the countryside and the distressed urban communities of the country revealed some challenges to the education sector which needed urgent attention such as the wide disparities in access and participation in early childhood care and education between urban and rural communities.
Again, many schools lack qualified teachers, teachers morale are low, motivation is weak due to inadequate salaries, conditions of service are poor and support systems.
According to Mr Nyoagbe, equally important were poor infrastructure such as classrooms without roofs and furniture, underfunded and overcrowded schools, adding that in some cases, teachers did not have desks on which to prepare their lessons or even mark children’s exercises.
He also pointed out that there was a misconception that private schools set and maintained educational standards, when in reality what went on in those institutions did not necessarily guarantee balanced education.
The deputy GNAT general secretary emphasised that in its quest to improve the quality of professional service to GNAT membership, the association had not only benefited from funding from its CTF partner, but had also shared in the expertise that they regularly brought to bear.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, urged the participants to impart the new knowledge they had acquired to their pupils, students and colleague staff members.
Ms Debbie Davis-Maybee, the Leader of the CTF team, for her part, urged the participants to bring excitement to their work as they were obliged to motivate their pupils and students to work hard so as to pass their examinations.
She expressed hope that the new knowledge they had acquired would help tremendously to improve on their work output, and expressed her joy for being part of the programme.