Vice-President Mahamadu Bawumia has lauded the remarkable achievements chalked by Ghana’s teachers, describing them as the “bedrock of the ongoing reforms and massive investment in the country’s education sector since 2017.”
He said government will continue to partner all stakeholders in education, particularly teachers, to ensure that the objective of producing graduates ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is achieved.
The Vice-President gave the commendation at the University of Development Studies (UDS) campus in Tamale yesterday as part of activities to mark this year’s World Teachers’ Day. This year’s celebration is dubbed “The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers”.
Dr. Bawumia noted that the occasion presented an opportunity to put a spotlight on the critical responsibility teachers bear in ensuring that children enjoy the right quality education.
Value of education
He indicated that government of President Akufo-Addo acknowledges the value of education to human development and nation building, hence its massive investment in education sector.
Dr. Bawumia, however, said the massive investment in education will come to nothing if teachers do not rise to the occasion, and respond positively to the great vision of transforming the country’s educational space.
“It is a proven fact that no nation in the world has developed without a conscious investment in its education system and the teachers who deliver the education. Teachers are profoundly essential to our world because they deliver education. And as the world acknowledges that education is the most powerful weapon that fights poverty, insecurity, environmental degradation, gender and racial discrimination, diseases and many other human sufferings, it is important that those who deliver education are well acknowledged and appreciated,” he added.
Touching on the theme for the celebration, the Vice-President said it synchronizes very well with government’s education transformation agenda.
According to him, government’s education transformation agenda hinges on training people to be creative, innovative, critical thinkers and technologically astute to lead the nation’s forward march towards the 4th industrial revolution.
“It is in the light of this that the Government has introduced the standard based curriculum that focuses on the four Rs – Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and cReativity which will lead to 21st century skills of critical thinking, innovation, collaboration, communication and problem-solving,” the Vice President noted.
Role of teachers
Stressing the key role played by teachers in government’s quest for accelerated development, Dr. Bawumia acknowledged that teachers contributed towards the success of the intentional and focused attention on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
“The massive investments to make technical vocational education and training (TVET) more attractive to learners, a target of achieving tertiary enrolment ratio of 40% by the year 2030, and the provision of more resources to the National Teaching Council in support of government’s teacher regulation and professionalization policy are all dependent to a large extent, on the cooperation of teachers,” he said.
He added: “All these strategies to use education to transform our nation can only happen when we have our teachers on our side. The teacher’s role is critical than any other in-school factor that influences education outcomes”.
The Vice-President also reaffirmed government’s commitment to the ‘Teacher First’ policy in ensuring that teachers are “fully tooled, skilled and supported to deliver quality learning outcomes to support development aspirations.”
The winner of the 2022 Ghana Teacher Prize, Stella Gyimaah Larbi, of Adenta Community JHS, received a house worth GH₵300,000, a scholarship to study abroad, an educational trip to Dubai, and accelerated promotion to the next rank, known as ‘Out of Turn Promotion.’
Other award winners received vehicles, educational trips abroad, and in most cases, a scholarship to study in any public tertiary institution of their choice in Ghana. For the first time, the best non-teaching staff received a saloon car as part of the award.
